


Red, Roses, and Regrets

by WillowTea



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Coming Out, Fluff, Kurapika is still in the closet, Leorio is bi, M/M, Math nerds AU, No Gon or Killua, This was kind of on the spot so tags will be added along the way, crude language, mention of murder, mention of rape
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-09-09 01:11:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 46,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8869930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WillowTea/pseuds/WillowTea
Summary: Kurapika Kurta is top of the sophomore class, in all honors classes, captain of the math team, the youngest member of the student council, and the most beautiful creature on campus. Leorio Paladinight is captain of the basketball team, the most popular kid in school, a hit with the ladies, flirty to the max, and the smartest kid in the state but doesn’t want anyone to know. When the coach of the math team loses a player the day before the high school math preliminary trials, he begs Leorio to help. What happens as a result is not what either boy expected.





	1. Right at the Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> I did another one guys.... I kind of just pumped out 6 pages in one hour.... I came up with this in the shower the today and had to write it down. I don't know where it's going yet, but it's going!

“You want me to what?” Leorio asked, still panting heavily and shaking his head, brows creased. He had been in the middle of practice when the old, goofy math teacher he had had for four years had come running down the stairs toward the gym floor. With panting breaths he had called Leorio over, leaning over to catch his breath once he reached the floor.

“Haha! You failing class, Leorio?” Called one of his teammates and the rest of the team laughed an mocked along with them. Leorio knew he was far from failing class, but played along with it and jogged up to the coach, who had straightened up to attempt to look him in the eye. This feat was impossible considering Leorio was about a head taller than him.

“What’s up, Mr. B?” Leorio had asked upon reaching the man. After a few more deep breaths and he asked the question that left Leorio confused:

“Can you join the math team?” 

That was where Leorio was now, his teammates continuing practice without him while he stood before the short teacher, trying to make sense of what he was being asked.

“I swear, it’s only for tomorrow night, Paladinight. Promise.” Mr. B added on hastily, aware completely of Leorio’s desire to keep up his cool guy image. The offer had been given to him when he had first shown his smarts his freshman year, but he had insisted that his smart guy image had not worked very well for him in middle school. So Mr. B had dropped the question, despite constant hints that he still desired the tall boy to be on the team.

“Mr. B, you know how I feel about the math team.” Leorio responded, glancing back at his teammates to make sure they weren’t hearing any of this. They were still running drills on the court and he felt comfortable enough to continue the conversation.

“C’mon, Paladinight. You’re the smartest kid on campus and we just lost a member of the team. One night, then you can go back and we’ll find an actual replacement for the kid. Please?” Mr. B looked desperate. The math team at York New High had never made it very far in the competition, but the previous year they had won second place in state due to the addition of one particularly smart freshman Leorio had never met. 

Mr. B was pleading for a chance at nationals.

“Alright, fine. One night. It’s not recorded, right?” Leorio asked, leaning in as he spoke to make sure his whisper could be hear above the sound of squeaking sneakers on the gym floor.

“Yes! I mean, it’s not recorded! Thank you!” Mr. B jumped for joy and Leorio glanced at his teammates nervously. They seemed to be glancing in his direction, but none of them made any comment or call toward the two and kept going.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Now, I gotta get back to practice.” Leorio said, brushing off the happiness he felt at seeing his teacher’s enthusiasm. Quickly he jogged back onto the court and called for his teammates to gather around. It was time for the next drill.

\----

Kurapika Kurta stood alone at the whiteboard, practicing the most complex math problem he had ever tried. It had taken most of his time after school, but he was pleased to finally finish it with a flourish of his marker. As he turned he noticed his empty audience. For a moment, he gaped. Where had the math team gone? They had been there only moments earlier, he could have sworn it. 

“Kurta, you should go home.” Jumping, Kurapika turned to find the math coach, Mr. Bernard, standing in the doorway to the classroom. Kurapika shook his head and gestured to the whiteboard.

“How did I do?” He asked and Mr. Bernard looked it over. His brow creased as he read through it and soon he was approaching the board, looking at it closely. Kurapika waited impatiently, hoping silently he had been correct in solving the equation. 

“Honestly, Kurta. I have no idea if you did it right.” Mr. Bernard finally said, turning back to the small sophomore with a look of awe. 

“What? What do you mean?” Kurapika looked over his equation hastily, looking desperately for the spot that might have thrown his teacher off. Mr. Bernard grabbed Kurapika’s shoulders and turned the boy to look him in the eyes.

“I don’t know if you’re right because I have never seen math this complex. And I’m a mathematician!” Mr. Bernard said with exasperation, throwing his arms out for added emphasis as he turned back to the board. 

“R-really?” Kurapika asked, unaware he had attempted something so complex. That likely meant he had gotten it wrong, he was only fifteen. Which meant he would have to take a trip up to the community college later to show the professors this. He needed to know what he did wrong.

“Kurta!” Kurapika snapped out of his trance and turned back to Mr. Bernard. “Go home, you need rest and the preliminaries are tomorrow.” The taller teacher was looking him directly in the eyes and Kurapika felt himself heat up out of embarrassment. He had never had anyone speak to him like that.

“Yeah. Thanks, Mr. Bernard. See you tomorrow.” Kurapika said, grabbing his jacket and his bag and heading out. Mr. Bernard smiled and shook his head before taking a picture of the white board and then erasing the equation.

\----

The local math preliminary trials weren’t very well advertised and the only people to ever show up were parents. This was okay with Leorio, who showed up in style, as usual, despite not having a crowd to show off. The place was packed with nerds, none of whom were his type. All the girls had their hair in tight buns, braces covering their smiles, and faces speckled in red dots. None of them were attractive.

And yet, he had dressed him best.

His best not being a suit, those were only for special occasions. But he wore a suit jacket over his white T-shirt and a pair of dark wash jeans that could have almost passed for slacks. So, he was close enough. 

Whispers echoed behind him as he made his way inside the large school that was hosting the preliminaries. Mostly about who he was and he grinned at the idea of being recognized. He was well known among the nerd community, as well. Sauntering along further into the school he found Mr. B standing next to a short, rather pretty girl with short blonde hair and grey eyes. She looked like she was dressed to be a librarian from the 80’s in high waisted slacks and a frumpy green shirt. If she only had a fashion sense, she would be the most beautiful girl Leorio had ever laid his eyes on.

“Ah! Paladinight, I’m so glad you’re here. This is Kurapika. Kurapika, this is Leorio Paladinight, he agreed to join the team for one night so we can have to time to find a replacement for Shalnark.” The young lady turned to look up at him and Leorio’s breath caught in his throat. Her face was flawless, like a goddess she was perfect. Her large, grey eyes filled up her face and narrowed when she looked at him.

“Why are you here?” Was the first thing she said, and her voice came out lower than Leorio expected. Perhaps she would make a great alto.

“I’m here to help your team, sweetheart.” Leorio replied with an air of importance. He was being very cocky, and he knew it, but the way Kurapika had said those words made him a little annoyed.

“Alright, play nice you two. I’m going to go see where everyone else is.” Mr. B bailed then, leaving them to eye each other coldly. 

“Do not call me sweetheart. And I doubt you will be of any help.” Kurapika turned, then, away from Leorio to look at the clipboard in her hands.

“Excuse me? How do you know if I’ll be of any help?” Leorio asked, taken aback by this girl’s lack of tact.

“You don’t seem like the type to know much about math.” Kurapika stated simply, looking over the clipboard as if it was more important than Leorio. Right as Leorio was about to retort a couple of students from another school walked by. They were both girls and were whispering giddily to each other like the popular girls did. When they spotted Kurapika standing next to Leorio they stopped talking and began to walk faster.

Kurapika didn’t look up.

“That’s Kurapika. He almost took his team to nationals last year.” One of the girls whispered as they passed. Leorio froze. He?

“Really? Who’s the handsome one next to him?” The words went in one of Leorio’s ears and out the other as he repeated the words the first girl had spoken over and over in his head. He?

“Are you a dude?” Leorio asked, completely unaware of the nature in which he had asked them. Kurapika froze in his writing on the clipboard and turned to look at Leorio, anger written tighter in his brow this time than the second time.

“Excuse me?” He asked, clearly more annoyed now than he had been only a couple of minutes ago. Leorio gaped, looking down at the petite body of the boy in front of him. He was so small! His shirt was so baggy he figured Kurapika had been a girl with a tiny figure. But he was just a small guy! Holy-

“You are a dude! What the heck, I could have sworn you were a chick.” Leorio gasped, taking a step back as he realized he had been considering flirting later when they had both forgotten about Kurapika’s comments about Leorio being dumb.

“Of course I’m male. Do you want to go into the bathroom and check?” Kurapika shot back, grey eyes searing into Leorio’s very soul. Leorio felt himself floundering, his mouth opening and closing, trying to find words to say. This kid was so straight forward! Of course Leorio didn’t want to check! That was just weird.

“No, no! I just didn’t think since, you’re so small and all, that your were, um, a dude.” Leorio responded, trying his best to save the situation. He had only made it worse.

“First you come here and insult me by saying you’re good enough for my team. And then you call me a girl!?” Kurapika’s voice was rising in volume a little bit and Leorio could have sworn his eyes were turning red with anger. “I don’t think Mr. Bernard was thinking it through when he asked you to join the team.” The blonde boy spat and Leorio snapped back quickly.

“Mr. B had been begging me to join his team since he first met me in my freshman year! I’ll have you know I’m smarter than you!” Leorio hissed back, leaning down and slipping his hands into his pockets angrily. Kurapika was practically nose to nose with him, standing on the balls of his feet to reach high enough.

“You most definitely are not!” Kurapika snapped again and Leorio huffed.

“Fine! I answer five questions correct tonight and you admit I’m smarter than you!” Leorio offered, still fuming at the insult from the younger boy.

“Absolutely not! I will never admit you’re smarter than me!” Kurapika snarled. This time Leorio was almost one hundred percent sure his eyes were red now.

“I bet you’re too chicken to! Because I know I can answer five questions correctly! In a row!” Leorio snapped back, leaning in just a bit closer to Kurapika who’s brow was knit so tightly in anger, the older boy was sure his face would fold in on itself. 

“What!? That’s preposterous!” Kurapika gaped, taking a small, offended step back from the taller boy. Leorio felt victory within his reach when Kurapika added: “If you answer five questions correctly in a row, I will admit you’re smarter than I thought.” Gah!

Leorio didn’t want to accept these terms, they were not the ones he had offered. But Kurapika’s determined expression told him there was no other option but to fold. 

“Deal! I answer five in a row, then I’m smarter than you first thought.” He shot out his right hand which was met with the small, soft hand of Kurapika. It was kind of pleasant, though his hands were far colder than Leorio had expected.

“Deal.” Kurapika spat, shaking firmly before letting go and turning to go somewhere else. Leorio huffed in his direction before turning to find that they had an audience. Instantly Leorio relaxed, embarrassed that everyone had been watching that.

“Let’s hope that doesn’t impede on your teamwork.” Mr. B had approached Leorio with folded arms. But he didn’t look upset. He actually looked just a little bit intrigued.

\----

The competition between Leorio and Kurapika did impede on teamwork, but it didn’t impede on the team’s performance. It was almost as if none of the other members existed, Kurapika was determined to prove Leorio wrong and Leorio was determined to prove Kurapika wrong. Occasionally the other members would get an answer in, but for the most part, the two of them dueled it out.

And Leorio came out on top.

Standing off to the side, the senior waited for the team captain to come down from the awards podium with their first place ribbon to rub it in his face. It wasn’t long before the blonde haired, grey eyed sophomore stepped down from the podium and walked right up to Leorio.

“You are smarter than I thought.” Kurapika stated. But it didn’t sound like he was stepping on nails to do it. Leorio lifted his head in thought.

“I think you should admit I’m smarter than you.” Leorio stated matter-of-factly. Kurapika gaped, turning red in the face. 

“We had a deal! You answer five questions correct in a row and I admit you were smarter than I thought.” Kurapika protested angrily, crossing his arms in defiance as the rest of the team gathered to see what was happening.

“Yeah, but I answered ten in a row and didn’t miss one. How many did you answer correctly?” Leorio pointed out, mocking the younger boy by asking him how many he had answered correctly. Kurapika tsked and turned his face away from Leorio. 

“How many was it Kurapika?” Leorio asked again, this time leaning in toward Kurapika to elicit an answer.

“Six.” He muttered under his breath. Leorio smirked, but he prompted again and this time Kurapika answered louder. “Six, okay. I answered six correctly and one wrong, none of them in a row.” He spat, looking back up at Leorio, his eyes red but this time not because of his anger. There were bubbles at the corners of his eyes and Leorio took a step back out of surprise.

“Leorio Paladinight, you are smarter than me. Now leave! I don’t want you on my team!” Kurapika practically screamed this, his anger boiling over into rage. Leorio, taken aback by the boy’s response, took a step back. When Kurapika took a step forward, as if threatening for a fight, he turned and walked away swiftly.

It wasn’t like he was afraid of the little sophomore it was just that…. Well, he was afraid of him. Something about Kurapika was positively frightening and Leorio didn’t want to stay to find out of the smaller boy would actually fight him.

At least the math team thing was a one time gig.


	2. Requests and New Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leorio felt exhilarated by the competition at the math preliminaries the previous night. Because of this he loses all sense of self in less than 24 hours. Kurapika is still fuming over the previous night. When there seems to be no solution, Kurapika has to settle on the only one that presents itself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's really hard to write a summary for a chapter in which nothing really happens.... It's a bit sloppy and it will definitely pick up!

Leorio couldn’t stop thinking

The tall boy had been thinking nonstop since the math trials the previous night and he couldn’t stop. The question Kurapika had gotten wrong ran through his head at one point and he solved it without an issue. He kept trying to think of the next game or the girl in English that kept staring at him. But every time his thoughts were allowed to wander, they meandered right back to the math trials and Kurapika.

It was so bad, when his alarm went off in the morning he got up and began to get ready. He thought long and hard about the boy’s eyes, his hair, and especially what his figure must look like under those frumpy clothes. Leorio’s mind wandered a little too far on occasion and he had to drag himself back from the depths of his mind blushing and spluttering.

As he drove to school he ignored the news playing on the radio in the background and thought about what he had done that had made Kurapika so upset at him. Part of him wanted to make up for it, the other part of him wanted to push those buttons some more to see what would happen.

Pulling into the school parking lot he locked his car and slid the keys into his pocket, the lanyard left to hang out where the decorative key holder could be seen. It had red crosses all the way down its length, something Leorio was more than proud of and not afraid to hide. Everyone knew he wanted to be a doctor, but no one thought he would make it except his teachers.

Walking into the school with no real purpose to his step he smiled and waved and said good morning to those who acknowledged him. Others who didn’t speak to him gawked and awed as he passed, but his mind to was too far away to notice. When he finally reached his locker, a group of his teammates hung out beside it. One of them had a locker right next to his, so it wasn’t strange in the slightest. 

“Yo, Leorio! You’re here really early. Something wrong?” The call was from a gangly boy a good foot shorter than Leorio. He had light brown hair styled messily about his head. Freckles dotted his face and sharp cheekbones accented his eyes. Leorio smiled fondly every time he saw Pietro, but this time his smile only lasted a little while until he had fully registered what Pietro had said.

Leorio stopped a few feet before his locker and looked around.

He was in the middle of the school hallway. There were a few people wandering here and there, most of them standing around talking with friends. It was early in the morning. Pietro was there to greet him.

He had arrived to school on time.

“Crap! I broke my streak!” Leorio threw his hands up to his face and tossed his head back in an exasperated display of disappointment. He had yet to be on time to first period since his freshman year when he had been late on accident the first day. Pietro had challenged him to be late every day after and he hadn’t missed a day yet.

“Dude, you lost. What’s up, though? Is there a reason you’re on time?” Pietro asked as Leorio approached and exchanged the team handshake with the rest of the guys. Leorio tried to recall how the morning had gone but only drew out blurry memories of himself in the mirror and a bowl of cereal. 

“I don’t know. I’ve been spacing out all morning.” Leorio explained and a few of the basketball guys whistled as if something was up.

“Have you got someone on your mind?” Pietro asked, nudging Leorio teasingly. When Leorio realized that he had had someone on his mind all morning, he froze and tried not to blush. His attempts were to no avail because Pietro and the boys began to laugh manically in response to the look on his face. As they roared with laughter Leorio’s eyes caught something and he froze again, this time staring as if entrance.

“Yo, Leorio! Snap out of it, man. We’re done.” Pietro waved a hand in front of his face and Leorio shook his head. Blinking rapidly he attempted to not glance at Kurapika as he approached the group, a small girl with mousy brown hair by his side. They seemed to be deep in conversation and hadn’t noticed they were headed straight for the basketball gang.

“Who are you staring at?” This time, Leorio didn’t try to avoid staring at Kurapika at the sound of one of his friends’ voice. Instead, he blinked his eyelids rapidly, looking between his friends and Kurapika as if they wouldn’t notice.

Naturally, they noticed.

“Whoo! Who’s the fine lookin’ freshman?” Pietro shouted as Kurapika reached them. The entire hallway turned to look at him and Leorio felt himself freeze over. Crap! He should have stopped staring! Now Kurapika had stopped right in front of him and was giving both him and Pietro a nasty look.

“I’m a sophomore.” Kurapika stated firmly, sounding calmer talking to Pietro than he had talking to Leorio the previous night. Pietro let out a whistle and grinned down at Kurapika, granted he was just barely taller than the blonde boy.

“Well, aren’t we a feisty one. Leorio, why are you making eyes at this nerd?” Pietro questioned, straightening up and pointing at Kurapika with a thumb as if he wasn’t there. Leorio shook his hands before himself, flailing and floundering for words as Kurapika turned his calm, cold look toward him.

“I-I wasn’t! H-he just happened t-to be in my field of vision!” Leorio defended himself helplessly and the entire basketball team began to whisper amongst themselves. Pietro’s brows creased and he looked back at Kurapika. 

“You’re a dude?” He asked simply and Leorio felt the anger flaring off of Kurapika. Even from where he was he could see the red in the other boy’s eyes as he formulated the perfect retort.

“Yeah! Couldn’t you tell, it’s kind of obvious?” Leorio slipped in, sliding an arm over Pietro’s shoulders and turning him away from the little spitball. Quickly he gestured with his head for Kurapika and his friend to get going and they obliged, granted the small girl had to do some tugging.

“No, it wasn’t. Dude, what is up with you?” Pietro sounded genuinely concerned. Leorio knew what was coming. He and Pietro had been best friends since they were kids. Pietro knew him best and the way he had looked at Kurapika was not just some off-handed glance or passing gaze. And Leorio had been on time! Any dare Pietro gave was one Leorio was sure to follow through on, no matter the weather. So Pietro knew better than anyone that something was definitely up.

“It’s nothing. I promise.” Leorio lied, hoping this would all blow over by lunch and he could go back to being normal again. Kurapika had flipped him upside down and backwards and it was extremely difficult trying to reorganize the pieces.

“Right. Because suddenly you’re staring at a nerdy sophomore. Granted, his face was pretty for a guy’s, this is weird.” Pietro said as Leorio opened his locker and began to get his things. The bell rang as they spoke, but Leorio didn’t jump at it, determined to continue his streak even if he had been on time to school.

“Is it weird I thought a guy was attractive?” Leorio asked calmly and it was Pietro’s turn to flounder. 

“Not at all! I mean, I know you like dude’s too it’s just…. This is the first time since you told me you were bi that you’ve very obviously had a thing for a guy. But he’s a nerd, Leorio, and we don’t mix very well with them.” Pietro said as Leorio grabbed his things and turned around. His class was on the other side of campus, so if he walked slowly he would be late. Only a few minutes late, but still late.

“I know, Pietro. It was just a passing glance. You said it yourself, he had a pretty face. Now let’s drop it. I have to focus very hard on being late.” This final comment made Pietro laugh and the topic was dropped. They then headed toward first period.

\---

Leorio was late. It was about two minutes after the bell. He had managed to stall by tying his shoes, taking a picture of some kid running to class, and texting his mom that he had made it to school okay. Sometimes she liked to know. 

“Late, as usual, Paladinight. But, not as late as usual.” Mr. B commented as Leorio sauntered into his senior math class. Students had already begun working and there was a sheet of paper on his desk. 

“Thank you, Mr. B. I do try.” Leorio commented and his math teacher rolled his eyes. The tall senior slid right into his seat to find a worksheet one the previous day’s subject sitting before him. It had been an easy topic, so he filled it out faster than the rest of the class, taking a break to sketch, rather badly, Kurapika in a sexy looking dress. Maybe dresses were Kurapika’s thing….

“Paladinight! Good morning, Mr. Paladinight. Can you answer number three for us, please?” Mr. B snapped him out of his thoughts by calling his name and Leorio realized he had been spacing out again. Shaking his head he looked down at his piece of paper and read off the answer he had gotten for the third problem.

“Uh, that is correct. Thank you.” Mr. B responded, surprised not because he was correct but because he had offered the answer without hesitation. Leorio was always right, he rarely got anything wrong. But he never openly answered questions in class to avoid being seen as smart. The rest of the class was surprised that he had been right and stared at the tall senior as he stared back at his paper. 

The rest of class was spent in a similar manner. Leorio stared down at his desk, writing down anything he saw Mr. B add to the board. But every time there was a break in the lecture he would sketch something resembling Kurapika. Why was he so enraptured by this boy? He had been a rude, snide, snooty like smart aleck. Yet, he was beautiful and amazing. Leorio couldn’t stop thinking about him.

“Paladinight.” Mr. B had appeared at the edge of Leorio’s desk, making the black haired boy jump. The rest of the class was working on something he had just passed out and there was a stack of papers on his desk. The kid behind him appeared to be trying to reach for it. Grabbing the stack he took one for himself and passed the other to the guy behind him.

“Sorry, Mr. B. I’m really out of it today.” Leorio muttered, looking down at the work on the worksheet. It was easy stuff, so he turned his attention to Mr. B.

“I noticed. It was the competition last night, wasn’t it?” Mr. B asked and Leorio looked back down at his desk, pretending that was it. Perhaps it was and he just connected Kurapika with it. Hopefully that was the case, since he found it hard to believe he was so entranced by someone he had just met. 

“Uh, yeah. I guess.” Leorio responded, not sounding convincing like he hoped he would. One of Mr. B’s eyebrows rose at this.

“Leorio, basketball isn’t enough, is it?” When he posed this question, Leorio’s mind cleared up. He had felt exhilarate the other night. His competition with Kurapika had been new and fast paced, nothing like basketball had become. He enjoyed the sport enough to keep playing, to feel the adrenaline pulse through him. But the math preliminaries had taken him over entirely, something he hadn’t felt since he had first played basketball.

“Yeah. Basketball isn’t nearly enough anymore. Last night was so much more fun.” Leorio finally said it out loud and Mr. B grinned from ear to ear.

“Then join the team permanently! We won last night because of you! If you join us, it’s a win-win situation!” Mr. B exclaimed, keeping his voice down to a whisper as he did it. The class didn’t seem to be paying attention, so they continued their conversation as normal.

“I don’t know if Kurapika would consider it a win to have me on the team.” Leorio mused, knowing that it was the competition with Kurapika that had given him the thrill and not the whole competition in general. But Mr. B was right, the entire team other than it’s captain would be thrilled to have him.

“Kurapika should know what’s best for his team.” Mr. B pointed out and Leorio felt his spirits lift a bit. The idea of having something new to occupy his time was comforting. “Just come to today’s team meeting. We’re preparing for the district matches.” Mr. B informed him before moving along the row of students.

Leorio resolved to find the math team meeting and plead his case to Kurapika. He needed this.

\---

“That Pietro is a self-centered pig!” Kurapika hissed under his breath, slamming his locker shut as he recalled the interaction he had had with the senior earlier that morning. He still felt bitter toward Leorio, but the reaction from his temporary teammate had been…nice. He had defended Kurapika, telling Pietro that he was male. This had been what had set Pietro off of Kurapika and allowed the younger boy to escape. Some part of Kurapika appreciated Leorio.

“It’s nice to know the senior of the basketball team think you’re attractive, though.” Melody spoke up beside Kurapika, her wispy voice barely carrying in the noisy hallway. Kurapika scoffed and looked down at Melody.

“You know that’s not important, Melody.” Kurapika pointed out and the smaller girl nodded, sighing as he stroked her thin hair over her shoulder. She had always wished that some guy out there found her attractive. But Kurapika was right, looks were not important nor was attention from a large group of seniors. She was just a little envious that Kurapika got so much attention only a day after the math preliminaries.

“You’re right. We need to focus on districts.” Melody agreed and Kurapika took on a determined grin. She had successfully taken his mind off of the one thing that had been annoying him most. Their team had nearly made it to nationals the previous year, riding on Kurapika’s shoulders. He was going to give them the same talk he had given them the previous year after he had been named captain.

The old team captain had been a senior and most of the team members had been freshmen. The math team had lost popularity over the years. Most freshmen joined thinking they loved math, and then most of them dropped in their sophomore year when they knew they wouldn’t get far. So the captain had chosen Kurapika as the new captain and most of the freshmen stayed on the team in their sophomore year.

However, Kurapika had become a little full of the power of being captain. Luckily, he had Melody as his co-captain and she was able to keep him from bragging to everyone about how he had won the competition for him. But his speeches were a little close to still doing that.

“It doesn’t matter who we replace Shalnark with, we’re still going to make it to nationals.” Kurapika said to the team when they had all gathered in Mr. Bernard’s classroom. He didn’t explicitly say it, but they all knew he was thinking it: he was going to carry them so their new teammate could be dumb as a brick for all he cared.

“Can’t we just keep Leorio permanently?” Someone in the back spoke up and Melody snapped her gaze back toward Kurapika, who took on an angry expression. She knew that the older boy struck a chord in Kurapika, even though they had only known each other for a night. Being one upped was just not something Kurapika could live with. Especially by some basketball jock who called him a girl.

“No. He would ruin the team dynamic. We need to find someone else.” Kurapika responded, turning around and beginning to write on the white board. A few kids in the room muttered things to each other that Kurapika couldn’t hear, but Melody did. Most of them complained about Kurapika’s self-centered nature, others wished Leorio could be the captain and that they would definitely go to nationals then. One student told her friend that she believed they had no team dynamic and her friend laughed and said Kurapika was the team dynamic.

Melody agreed with these girls.

Right then the door to the classroom opened and Mr. Bernard’s face lit up.

“Paladinight, you’re late.” He said this as if it was a fond phrase. Instantly, the entire math team turned to find Leorio standing at the back of the room, hands tucked into his pockets casually, a duffle bag slung over one shoulder. Kurapika didn’t move, hand still posed to write something.

“Sorry, Mr. B. It just had to tell the team that practice was cancelled for today.” Leorio responded and the math teacher’s grin expanded. Several of the other team members grinned in a similar manner to the team coach. Melody could tell, however, but Kurapika’s position that he was not excited in the least.

“That’s fine, Paladinight. Please, have a seat somewhere.” Mr. Bernard gestured to the room where plenty of open seats could be taken. There were no seniors on the math team, most of the older members dropped out before their junior year, so the majority of the room was sophomores and freshmen. 

“Leorio, are you joining the team permanently?” Someone asked and Leorio stopped to respond to them. 

“I was definitely hoping to.” The entire room gasped and grinned at this response except Kurapika, who turned around and pointed an angry finger at the older boy.

“You are not joining my team!” He growled at Leorio, gathering the full attention of the older boy. Melody felt as if no one else in the room existed but the two standing and the rest of the group watched the show as if it was an entertaining movie. 

“Your team? Isn’t it Mr. B’s team?” Leorio asked and Kurapika’s mouth shut with a click of his teeth. It was clear Kurapika knew he was right, but was too angry to admit it. 

“Kurapika, Leorio could really help the team dynamic.” Mr. Bernard spoke up and Melody felt like his voice was an intrusion. It stood out against Kurapika’s angry growls and Leorio’s calm replies. It was a voice of reason.

“It didn’t feel like he did it any good last night.” Kurapika responded, not looking over at Mr. Bernard as he said it. The math coach shook his head, not able to grab the full attention of his captain.

“Isn’t the team dynamic the way the team works together?” Leorio asked and Melody felt Kurapika stiffen even more. Leorio, being the captain of a sports team, knew more about team dynamic than Kurapika ever would. The math team seemed to need less teamwork, but it really needed the same amount of teamwork as a sport.

“If I’m correct, and yes it’s partially my fault, there was no team dynamic last night at all. It was all Kurapika and I.” Leorio continued and Kurapiak’s jaw dropped open, but no words came out. Leorio was taking on captain mode. “What if the team found each member’s strength and that member answers any question under that category?” Leorio suggested and Mr. B grinned bigger. The rest of the room nodded in agreement.

“So, if I’m best at working out triangles, I would answer any question having to do with triangles?” Someone asked and Leorio shot finger guns at them.

“Exactly! Everyone write on the board their biggest strength, then we can decide who does what.” Leorio suggested and the entire room seemed to listen.

“Wait!” Kurapika exclaimed and everyone froze, most of them standing slightly and others already on the way to the board. Kurapika wasn’t looking up, but didn’t seem to be as angry as he had been moments before. Leorio was challenging his captain title, but the smaller boy was trying very hard to take it calmly. 

“That is a very good idea, Leorio. But you can’t just walk in here and take over as captain just because you’re a senior.” Kurpaika pointed out and Leorio raised his hands in surrender.

“Right! Sorry! Your call. What should we do, captain?” Leorio asked and Kurapika’s expression was surprised. He hadn’t expected Leorio to allow him to take over so quickly.

“We…. Do as Leorio suggested.” Kurapika responded and the room began to move again. Leorio and Kurapika stayed where they were as everyone wrote their names and their strengths on the board. Melody stayed where she was until the board had cleared and noticed that Kurapika and Leorio were looking right into each other’s eyes, as if having a silent conversation. The team needed to gain dynamic and it was a very good thing Leorio had joined or else Kurapika would make the same mistake he had the previous year.

\---

“Alright, thank you all for staying today. You can go home.” Kurapika ended the meeting and the group of students sitting before him stood and headed toward the late buses or their parents waiting outside for them. Melody stayed where she was, waiting for Kurapika so they could walk home together.

“Paladinight, it’s so great to see you on my team after four years!” Mr. Bernard exclaimed, heading toward where Leorio Paladinight was getting up to leave. It seemed that Mr. Bernard had been wanting Leorio on the team for years. 

Kurapika gathered his things and approached the two who had been talking about something Melody didn’t understand. They stopped when the shorter boy reached them.

“Leorio Paladinight, welcome to the team. Thank you for your suggestions. I will see you at the next team meeting.” Kurapika said to him, not looking up toward his eyes like he probably should have. Leorio grinned down at this. Melody knew instantly that it wasn’t a winner’s grin, he didn’t take this as Kurapika giving in.

“Thank you for letting me join the team, even after what happened last night.” Leorio said and Kurapika looked up, surprise on his face. He had expected Leorio to rub it in. When Leorio didn’t get an immediate response he left the three of them and headed toward home.

“This team is going to see its greatest days since I took charge.” Mr. Bernard grinned and Kurapika looked down toward the ground. It had taken of lot of willpower to thank Leorio and Melody could tell it was eating him alive that the older boy had taken the humble route of response. 

Mr. Bernard was right, this team was headed toward greatness.


	3. Refusal and Insistance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Making the math team awesome isn't as easy as Kurapika had hoped it would be. When he overworks himself (and walks to and from school every day in early fall) he finds himself not feeling his best. But he still refuses Leorio's assistance. Naturally, Leorio cannot accept this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was having so much trouble coming up with what to write for this chapter. When in doubt: make someone sick!

Apparently the road to greatness was a long one.

And Kurapika was having a hard time walking it side by side with the tall, lanky figure that was Leorio Paladinight. 

There were still several weeks before the district matches and the math team was still struggling. Kurapika had no problem answering any of the questions that Mr. Bernard handed out, but when it came down to it, the rest of the team just wasn’t measuring up. Leorio’s initial idea of having certain team members answer questions they knew had been brilliant, but they weren’t fast about it. 

Kurapika was not only able to answer almost all the questions correctly, but he had more speed than almost the entire team. Leorio was the only one who could surpass him when it came to speed and accuracy. He was always right and he was always first.

It was the most frustrating thing Kurapika had ever run into.

Yet, he had to hold himself together because the team loved having Leorio. Even if he was late to nearly every practice and spouted cocky nonsense, he was still the best team player and far nicer than Kurapika was.

Even Kurapika could tell this.

The small, blonde sophomore tried his very hardest to not make it obvious, but Melody was still pointing it out after a week of practices.

“Leorio still gets to you, doesn’t he?” She asked one morning, standing beside Kurapika and playing with her thin hair like she always did. The taller student was gathering his things from his locker for homework later that night. Almost every class had some sort of work it required of him so he had packed his arms rather tightly with books and notebooks he needed to bring home. 

“Of course he still gets to me! He’s smarter than me and he’s cocky about it.” Kurapika responded, coughing slightly at the end of his sentence when the growl tickled his throat. Melody shook her head as they turned in the direction of the math teams meeting room.

“It’s not just that, Kurapika, I can tell.” Melody added on, looking up at Kurapika with her all knowing eyes. The small girl had known Kurapika for a year now and knew him better than even he did. There was some sort of hidden intuition she had about him, like she could read his mind.

“I don’t know what more could possibly bug me about that annoying senior other than his know-it-all attitude.” Kurapika grumped back, trying to hold back the cough this time, but not succeeding. What came out was a rough, scratchy cough that made it hard to speak or even breathe. Melody continued without hesitation.

“Maybe it’s because you know he’d make a better captain than you?” Melody was the only one not afraid to say it. It was an insult beyond all insults to Kurapika’s pride, and she knew it. But she didn’t hesitate when saying it because she knew Kurapika needed to hear it said aloud. 

Kurapika knew she was right.

They walked the rest of the way in silence, Kurapika trying to not fume over the fact that Melody was right, Melody trying not to gloat over it. She knew how much Kurapika hated boasters. There were already a couple of team members in the room when they arrived, so Kurapika set his things down and began to write the agenda on the board. The plan was to do exactly as they had been doing before. The only way to train a team’s speed was by making them do it over and over until they thought of nothing else.

The door opened ten minutes into practice and Leorio strutted in.

“Hey, everybody, how are all of-“ He stopped short, looking up toward the front of the classroom where Kurapika stood, glaring at him like he did every day the tall senior was late. But Leorio had never frozen at Kurapika’s gaze. He was looking at something else.

“Yo, Kurapika, you okay? You don’t look so hot.” Leorio asked, dropping his duffel bag and backpack at a random table before heading toward the front of the room to get a better look at Kurapika.

“Of course I’m fine. What on Earth would make you think otherwise?” Kurapika asked, stifling a cough that threatened to make its way into the air where Leorio now stood. In complete honesty, he was surprised. Extremely surprised that Leorio had caught the most subtle signs that not even Melody had spotted. But he couldn’t let his team think there was something wrong with him, he was their captain.

“Are you sure? You look ill.” Leorio said, raising his hand toward Kurapika’s forehead only to get slapped away by the smaller sophomore. With an indignant look, Kurapika turned away from Leorio and back toward the classroom where his teammates watched this whole thing unfold.

“I’m positive. I feel fine. Now sit down before we lose the entire afternoon to practice.” Kurapika responded, watching with pleasure as the senior hesitantly headed to where he had set down his things and sat down. It was nice to have some power over him. 

The rest of practice was spent working on practice equations that had been in previous competitions. Each member was given a stopwatch and asked to record times on a sheet of paper so Kurapika could see progress.

There was no progress.

Other than his and Leorio’s, there was no progress with any of the team members. As they handed him their papers he recalled what had been on the sheets at the last team meeting and realized none of them were making progress. This was getting really bad. 

Kurapika dropped his head with a heavy sigh, holding himself up with the desk before him. He suddenly felt really dizzy and exhaustion hit him like a freight train. The only people left in the room were Melody, Leorio, and Mr. Bernard, and they noticed what Kurapika refused to admit.

“C’mon, Pika. You’re definitely not feeling well. Stop putting on a brave face and let me at least drive you home.” Leorio offered, walking hesitantly toward the front of the room with his bags slung over his shoulders. Melody approached her friend as well.

“I suggest you swallow your pride and take his offer. I can walk home alone, I don’t mind.” Melody spoke up, her soft voice carrying through the empty room. Mr. Bernard watched this all with interest, ready to step in as the adult voice of reason if Kurapika didn’t listen to his friends.

“Do you two live close together?” Leorio asked, perked up slightly with interest. When Melody nodded her head, Leorio grinned and opened his arms as if ready to embrace somebody. “Then I can drive you both home! I have room.” Leorio offered and Melody felt herself taken over by some indescribable light. She had never been offered a ride home. Walking home all her life had made her tired and she often was barely able to finish homework due to a lack of time. 

“That would be great!” Melody responded, looking toward Kurapika as if looking toward her mother for approval. Kurapika hadn’t looked up from the desk since Leorio had spoke up several minutes earlier and the tall senior closed the space between them to stand right next to him.

“C’mon, Pika. You’re definitely not feeling well.” Leorio’s voice took on a gentle tone and Melody felt herself enjoying this side of Leorio. He had a big heart, even if he tried to hide it most of the time. Kurapika put a weak hand on Leorio’s chest and attempted to push him away. Leorio allowed this to have more effect than it should have had.

“No. I’m fine.” Kurapika responded, finally lifting his head and brushing his hair from his face. Leorio watched as the smaller boy walked away from him and proceeded to grab the stack of textbooks and notebooks from the desk Kurapika had left them on. His arms struggled to hold up what he had no trouble carrying earlier. As he headed toward the door, all three people watching him, he stumbled into the corner of a desk and Leorio shot forward. 

“Alright, that’s it. I’m taking you home even if it means carrying you to the car and having Melody give me directions.” He commanded, Melody feeling herself light up at the sound of her name. He remembered her name! Leorio gently slid the books Kurapika had been carrying onto another desk and scooped the small teen into his arms. Kurapika struggled and fought, but his exhaustion made it harder to get away and it was clearly sapping him of more energy.

“Melody, can you get his books?” Leorio asked and Melody shot to attention at the sound of her name. Nodding confidently she hurried forward and grabbed his books from the desk before waving goodbye to Mr. Bernard and escaping the room behind Leorio. 

Kurapika had stopped struggling by the time they reached Leorio’s car and the three of them had settled in seats. Considering the struggle it would have been to get him into the back seat, Meldoy crawled into the back so that Leorio could slide Kurapika into the passenger seat and buckle him in. 

“Alright, directions, milady.” Leorio asked from the front seat, and Melody obliged with a big grin as Leorio backed out of his parking space and headed toward their neighborhood. They drove mostly in silence, but Melody was fine with that. As the directions continued to come, Leorio mused over the distance between them and the school.

“Do you guys walk this far every day?” He asked after a few minutes of driving. Melody shrugged. It had never been a big deal to her, she rarely got sick and the exercise was good for her.

“Yeah. But it’s never been too bad.” She responded and Leorio nodded from ahead of her. Turning where she told him to, he began to think again.

“You guys live in the complete opposite direction of me.” Leorio spoke as if not looking for an answer, so Melody remained silent. For another minute they were silent. “Why do you guys go to York New High when you live so far away?” Leorio asked, curious to know why they were so far away when he knew that Meteor City High was so much closer. From the directions he was getting, the two practically lived in the neighbor city. 

“Kurapika lived in the area with his last foster family and I just wanted to stay with him to make sure he didn’t hurt himself.” Melody responded and Leorio almost ran into a tree. Swerving out of the way he spouted apology after apology before finally deciding Melody was okay.

“Kurapika’s in foster care?” Leorio asked and Melody appeared to drain of color and turn away from what he could see if her in his rear view mirror.

“Kurapika doesn’t talk about it. I shouldn’t have said anything.” She responded and Leorio dropped the subject, despite intense curiosity on the subject. When they finally pulled up in front of Kurapika’s house, Leorio felt like peeling away and making the younger boy stay with him for the rest of his life. 

The place was small, that was for sure, and rather aged looking. It’s once yellow paint had turned brown from having never been cleaned and the dry grass out front had clearly never been weeded. The cracked sidewalk sprouted different kinds of plants and quite a bit of moss while the rose bushes against the house crawled and strangled their way toward the roof. The front window was rather clean looking, but cracked along the top edge, and the single garage door was sitting half open with a parked before it as if waiting for it to open.

“He lives here?” Leorio asked, his mouth dropped open, his eyes wide with surprise, brows creased with concern. His voice was soft, as if speaking loudly would disturb Kurapika, who was beginning to stir in the passenger seat beside him.

“Yep. My house is just two down. I’ll grab Kurapika’s books, you grab Kurapika?” Melody asked, speaking as if it was nothing to live in such a run down, ancient looking house. Looking down two houses Leorio realized this was one of the only of its kind in the neighborhood. Melody’s house was a two story, clean looking house with blue paint and a semi-alive lawn. There were weeds in the garden, but the cracked sidewalk seemed to lack them and the bushes in the front seem unkempt, but not gnarly.

With a sigh, Leorio did as Melody had suggested and got out of his car and walked around to the side to open Kurapika’s door. As he leaned down to grab the blonde, a hand shot out to stop him.

“Don’t. Touch me.” Kurapika hissed, unbuckling his belt and sliding out of the seat, causing Leorio to back away in surprise. As he stood to his full height, he put a hand to his head and the other out of his side, clearly attempting to regain lost balance. Leorio held out two hands, ready to steady Kurapika if he seemed to need it. 

Melody slipped out from the back seat with a bit of a struggle, carrying Kurapika’s books in her arms. When she finally stood up on the sidewalk beside his house, she grinned from ear to ear, seeing him awake.

“Ah! You woke up! That’s good. I’ve got your books.” Melody showed him this by hoisting her arms up just slightly. Kurapika looked down, his face drained of color and his eyes half shut. With determination written in his brow, he reached for the books but was stopped when Melody swiftly spun them away from him and Leorio grabbed him around the waist. 

“No you don’t! You don’t have the energy to carry those. Let Melody bring them to your room.” Leorio scolded into Kurapika’s ear as the smaller boy attempted to push Leorio’s arm off of him with no success. Eventually, when Kurapika stopped struggling as much, Leorio let go. With a huff – Kurapika was letting off a lot with the panting he was doing – he turned and headed down the lawn toward the front door, Melody following behind him. 

“Thank you, Leorio! Kurapika thanks you too, he’s just too proud to say it.” Melody called as they disappeared into the shell of a house, leaving Leorio standing on the cracked sidewalk to watch them go inside the death trap on their own.

He was still tempted to steal Kurapika away and make him stay at his house.

\---

The creaky stairs to the basement weren’t creaky when Kurapika first moved in. They had been in top shape several months ago and, suddenly, were no longer at their best. How they had managed to get so bad, Kurapika was never sure.

What he was sure of was that he was having a lot of trouble descending them right now.

“Kurapika, do you need some help?” Melody asked, struggling enough as it was with the books she was carrying.

“No, I’m fine.” Kurapika grumbled as he made his way clumsily down the stairs toward his bedroom in the basement. Melody followed, glad when they finally made it all the way down and neither of them had fallen.

There was no sign of Marta or Allin, which probably meant they were asleep. Allin was always at work late, though, so Melody supposed that was probably where he was right then. Kurapika headed into his bedroom and Melody slipped in behind him. She set his books on his desk and then turned to leave.

“Are you alright? Do you need me to get you anything?” Melody asked and, from the look on Kurapika’s face, could tell what he was about to say. With a nervous chuckle she nodded her head. “Alright, then I’ll be off.” She turned to leave then, taking the long hike up the stairs like it was nothing now that she was free of books.

She knew how it was with Kurapika. He was used to doing things on his own, getting any help was against his personal code. But she knew he needed to get used to getting help sometimes. Life wasn’t a one sided conversation, someone else had to pipe in on occasion to add ideas.

Kurapika finally sighed out a heavy breath when he heard the door upstairs click shut. Sitting down on the edge of his bed he looked around the barren room he called home. He would probably get the rest of his sophomore year. Maybe only a few more months of it. Then he would have to move again. 

Most couples said he was too quiet, that they wished he would open up more. Others thought he was too stubborn and needed some discipline to make him do what they wanted. Kurapika refused to change who he was and consistently rejected every family that rejected him. 

It was never home.

So his room reflected how he felt: empty and lonely. It had stark white walls with no posters, his blankets were solid colors (mostly greys and browns) and his desk contained only schoolwork and his laptop. Nothing in the room gave a hint to his personality. And he didn’t care.

\---

Leorio pulled up to his house and parked, still put off by the vibe Kurapika’s house had given off. For a moment he just sat in his car, staring off into space. But he knew his mom would be curious to know how his day had gone and all of his siblings would want to see him again. So he got out and put on a smile to greet the ones at home.

The first to join him was his youngest sister, Desereti, who shot out of nowhere and attacked his legs. Leorio almost stumbled on top of her but was able to catch his balance with his hand against the wall in the front entrance.

“Leorio!’ She shouted at the top of her lungs, clearly thrilled to see her older brother. Laughing as he pried here off of his legs and hoisted her up with one arm – she assisted by climbing – he made his way further into the house where he found his mom in the kitchen with one of his younger brothers at the kitchen table doing homework. 

“You’re home later than usual.” His mom pointed out and he gave her an apologetic look and a kiss on the cheek. “How was math team?” Only his family was allowed to know who he truly was, and he was fine with that.

“Same as usual. We’re not making progress and I’m trying to figure out how I can help.” Leorio muttered as his mom scooped the ladle from the pot on the stove and gave him a sip of the soup. With the arm holding Desereti he gave her a thumbs up before continuing. “The captain was sick and refused help. Naturally, I drove him and his friend home.” Leorio added on and his mom laughed. 

“That’s my Leorio.” She commented fondly and Leorio grinned at her. He appreciated the kindness his mom showed and was more than willing to pay it forward to anyone that needed it. Naturally, most of the time he would instantly refuse the need to be paid back for it. Or he would pretend he had never done it. 

With a huff he dropped Desereti onto the kitchen table, causing her to laugh as he did so. This drew his brother’s attention and allowed him to turn his attention to his other younger sibling. Though, considering he was oldest, all of his siblings were younger.

“How was school today?” He asked Cater, ruffling his short, cropped black hair. The younger boy shrugged and resumed his homework.

“Good.” Was all he said, which caused Leorio to laugh and cracked a small smile on his own face.

“Hey, you know butts aren’t allowed on my table.” He heard his mom say before he quickly slid Desereti off the table – resulting in more laughter – and setting her back on the ground. As he left the room he blew his mom a kiss, which made her roll her eyes.

“Dinner will be ready when your dad gets home.” She called to him as he trotted up the stairs to his bedroom on the second floor.

“Alright! I’ll be back down soon.” He called as he opened the door to his room and then shut it behind himself. With a flourish he tossed his bags to the side and flopped onto his bed with a tired sigh. 

Once again his thoughts were drawn to Kurapika. Not only was his underclassman in foster care, but he lived in an awful place that looked ready to collapse. And there wasn’t anything he could think of to make it better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided Leorio is the oldest of eight. I only made up names for two. Woohoo... Also, hopefully I can think of what the next chapter will be about faster...


	4. Regrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurapika attempts to put aside his stubborn nature and Leorio makes a stupid move.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter may be a bit choppy because I wrote the second part before I even started chapter three. I hope it still reads well!

Kurapika woke up the next morning with a headache and a sore throat. He felt ten times better than he had the previous day, but he still felt a little less than optimal. However, he wasn’t going to skip out on school just because of a little cold. He knew he could last the whole day, especially since he didn’t feel weak like he had before.

Sitting up in bed he rubbed his head slightly, feeling the ache subside slightly as he massaged his temples. See, this wouldn’t be so hard. 

Getting out of bed he pulled his pajamas off and his school clothes on. They were large, baggy numbers with no shape and little sense of style. But Kurapika was never one to care about appearance and this definitely showed that. There had been many a time where people had told him that he needed to care more about his appearance, but obviously he didn’t need to if it meant getting through life. Clothes were not important.

Grabbing his back pack and double checking he had everything inside of it, he trudged up the stairs from the basement to the ground floor where all was silent. The sloppy living room was set up cleanly and didn’t look half bad. He knew everyone who saw his house for the first time often took in the worst of it. On its own, it wasn’t bad looking. It was just a little outdated and in need of an intense clean.

Some things didn’t work like the used to or made noises that they shouldn’t, but otherwise the place was more than livable. Marta and Allin had jobs, but not terribly high paying ones. They lived with what they needed and flourished slightly on what they got for taking care of Kurapika. But they always managed to spend their money on things that weren’t truly necessary.

Entering the shabby looking kitchen that appeared to have been dropped from the 80’s, Kurapika prepared to pull things from the fridge to make breakfast when he found a plate of eggs, toast, and hash browns covered with plastic wrap on the table. There was a small note stuck to it that Kurapika could tell Marta had written.

‘Heard you weren’t feeling well. Take good care of yourself. Love, Marta.’ There were a couple of hearts as flourishes beside her name and Kurapika sighed. He hated that he never got along with his foster parents. But he didn’t need a family. They were just some place to live until he graduated. But he did appreciate their shows of kindness. Marta would have had to have gotten up earlier to prepare this, since she left for work before Kurapika got up for school.

It was touching.

Other than the toast, Kurapika popped the food into the microwave to warm it up a bit and munched on semi-soft toast. It had been buttered when she had made it, something Kurapika could have done himself, but it was the thought that counted. As he was pulling the plate from the microwave there came a knock on his door and then the sound of it opening. 

Melody had been his best friend since they were young. They had lived next door to each other when Kurapika’s family was still alive and then Melody had moved to a house in another neighborhood. They had still attended the same school until Kurapika had lost his family and that was when he had begun house hopping in the foster care system. According to the system, he still had a few living relatives elsewhere in the country, but he had never heard of them and they weren’t willing to uproot just to take care of him. Instead, he had insisted he remain there and finish out his schooling.

No matter where his house was, he was always in the same school with Melody. After his eighth grade year he had gone to Yorknew High due to the location of his current home and the insistence of his foster family. So Melody had transferred to Yorknew with him. When he moved to another home at the end of his freshman year, it was two houses down from Melody’s and outside Yorknew High boundaries. Marta and Allin had been kind enough to allow him to continue attending that school as long as he could get himself there.

Kurapika was a determined person.

Plus, he had a very supportive friend in Melody. So she knew where they kept the hidden key to the house. As long as she knocked first, she was allowed to enter. 

As Kurapika sat down to eat, Melody came into the kitchen carrying a bottle of something. Kurapika paid her no mind as she sat down across from him and set down the bottle.

“I knew you’d be coming to school, so I brought cold medicine.” Melody said as she leaned back slightly in her chair and Kurapika looked up. She had actually brought cold medicine with her, there was a bottle of it sitting right before his plate.

“You didn’t need to; we have some in the bathroom.” Kurapika responded before scooping a forkful of hash browns into his mouth. Melody shrugged.

“I wanted to make sure you took something.” Was her response before she pulled the bottle back over to herself and began opening it. Skillfully she twisted the child safe cap off and poured the recommended dosage into the little cup that had been sitting on the cap upside down. She set it before him and then got up to grab a glass from one of the cupboards. 

Chewing his food, Kurapika watched as Melody filled the glass with water before setting it next t the medicine cup and then sitting back down. He raised his eyebrows at her and she smiled. There was nothing he necessarily had against it, he just knew that he had the ability to do it himself and didn’t need her help.

“Before you say something stubborn, take it. I’m not going to stand for your self reliance today.” Melody informed him matter-of-factly. Kurapika took this in with wide eyes, having not even spoken a word since the medicine had been offered. So he did as she said, taking the medicine and then taking a gulp of the water before finishing off his food.

“Since when did you become so authoritative?” Kurapika questioned as he stood, pushing the chair back on the stained linoleum. He took the plate to the sink and rinsed it off.

“Leorio showed me that I don’t have to be rude to be firm.” Melody spoke up and Kurapika felt himself freeze at her response. Melody was learning from Leorio? It had to have been by example, because Kurapika didn’t recall him ever telling her something like that directly. With a huff he dropped the plate in the sink and turned swiftly, grabbing his bag from the floor.

“Are you going to go quiet every time Leorio comes up?” She asked as she grabbed her own bag and slung it over his shoulder. Brushing her mousy brown hair out of the way, she twisted the straps of her backpack until they were right before following Kurapika toward the door.

“I don’t go quiet every time Leorio comes up.” Kurapika defended grumpily, letting her out the door before locking it and following down the front lawn of weeds and dead grass. From behind, he visibly saw Melody sigh and he was sure she was rolling her eyes. How did he guess that? She never did that.

“You go quiet every time he enters the meeting room, just now, when he offered to help you yesterday, and I’m sure the list goes on longer.” Melody said as Kurapika trotted lightly to come up beside her. 

“I go quiet every time he enters the meeting room because he’s always late and he’s interrupting.” Kurapika retorted defensively. Again, Melody showed clear signs of exasperation and Kurapika felt strange seeing his friend this way about him.

“I know it’s rude for him to interrupt, but he comes in quietly. Plus, it’s a miracle enough he decided to join us even with the basketball team on his shoulders. Mr. Bernard said so himself.” Melody reminded Kurapika and the taller boy went silent. His blonde hair felt before his eyes as he thought about what Melody was saying. Leorio was smart, smarter than him. Kurapika was stubborn, so he wasn’t going to admit that more than once, but he knew it was true and Leorio was an important member of the team.

“Yeah, well, he didn’t need to offer to help me yesterday, I was doing just fine.” Kurapika felt his face turn red at the memory of Leorio scooping him up bridal style and carrying him out to his car. He had to have passed out at some point because he doesn’t remember reaching his house but the next thing he knew they were there.

“You were not fine! Kurapika, stop being so stubborn! Leorio’s a nice person; you just don’t seem to want to see that.” Melody exclaimed as they turned a corner. The early morning sun hadn’t even begun to rise since they had started, considering they lived so far away and had to get up so early. 

“I’m not saying he’s not nice and he’s not smart, I’m just I don’t need him all the time. Leorio seems to show up when he’s least wanted.” Kurapika continued with a huff, tucking his arms across his chest with an angry fold. 

For a moment, Melody was silent. She seemed done protesting against him, and Kurapika felt like he had won. Sometimes he wondered if his skills would be better suited for the debate team. He sure was good at arguing his point. But Melody wasn’t done, she was just compiling data. Kurapika glanced down at her a minute after she had gone silent and noticed the intent way in which she stared at the ground. It was her thinking face. Kurapika sighed. Leorio had taught her about how to be firm but not rude? Well, it was definitely annoying to know how very right she was with every word she said.

“Maybe, Kurapika, you just refuse his help because you’re refusing to admit just how much you like him.” Melody finally said and Kurapika felt his blood freeze over. Immediately it was melted by the burning hot feeling of a blush rising rapidly toward his cheeks and he ducked his head away from Melody quickly.

“Yes, I believe he is a valuable person.” Kurapika responded, trying to play off her comment as if it hadn’t meant what he thought it had meant. Melody sighed again and instantly he knew it had meant exactly what he thought it had meant.

“C’mon, Kurapika. The entire school knows Leorio is bi, he practically announces it every time he turns a corner. I know you don’t want to tell anyone else that you…that you’re gay, but I’m not blind. When someone inexperienced with crushes has a crush, it’s hard to miss. Especially when they’re stubborn.” Melody elaborated her comment and Kurapika felt himself heating up even more. 

He didn’t like Leorio! The tall, lanky senior was a smart person and kind of heart, but Kurapika definitely didn’t like the narrow shape of his eyes, or the sloppy mess of his hair, or the way he continued to be humble about everything despite his overly boisterous nature.

Good gracious, he did like Leorio.

“Melody, stop making assumptions. Leorio is obviously having a bad influence on you if that’s what you think.” Kurapika spat, trying his hardest to force as much venom into that statement as he could. Instantly he could tell it wasn’t as much as he wanted.

But Melody was silent the entire rest of the way to the school, where they arrived early, as usual. Kurapika placed his things in his locker as Melody did the same with her stuff. He only needed half of it before lunch and he could just grab the other half during lunch. 

The entire day was a bit of a haze. As class smart aleck in every class, he was obligated to call out the answer to every question he could before the teacher told him to give someone else a try. But Kurapika didn’t answer any questions in first or second period as he thought about what Melody had said. He needed to stop being so stubborn. Was he really that stubborn? A cold wasn’t a big deal, he thought. It wasn’t like he could die from it.

As his thoughts progressed, he forced himself to think like Leorio or Melody. If a friend was sick, what would they feel? After a few minutes, he realized it would be concern for their health. Melody and Leorio had wanted to help because they cared about him. Turning slightly red in the middle of French, he thought about the fact that Leorio actually cared for him. It was…sweet.

By the time lunch rolled around, Kurapika had developed a rudimentary way of thinking like Melody and Leorio. Sure, he wasn’t entirely sure what they were thinking all the time, but he liked to think that he could come up with a general idea and roll with it. He felt guilt that he hadn’t realized it, but it was similar to the manner in which Marta and Allin cared for him. 

Melody had been showing this level of care since they had met, and Kurapika hadn’t acknowledged it. 

During lunch, Kurapika finished his food quickly on the excuse that he needed to check out a book from the school library. Instead he got up and headed toward where he knew the jocks hung out. Upon arriving, he observed from a distance. There was Leorio, in the middle of the pack with the thin, pig-like Pietro beside him.

For several minutes Kurapika stood against the wall of the school, pretending not to watch them until Leorio stood up and said something, heading toward the school. When he was finally out of sight of the other jocks, Kurapika cornered him. 

“Leorio! Leorio, hold on a second.” He called, jogging weakly toward the lanky senior whose strides were twice the length of his own. The tall teen stopped quickly, which Kurapika was very much thankful for.

“Hey, what are you doing at school, Pika? You can’t be better already.” Leorio commented as the small sophomore reached him, panting slightly at the effort of catching up to Leorio while still sick.

“One: quit calling me Pika. Two: no, I’m not better. But I’m feeling good enough to tackle the day with minimal effort.” Kurapika responded, and Leorio let a big grin cross his face. The absolute beauty of such a caring, revealing smile made Kurapika lose his train of thought and the real reason he had approached Leorio.

“That’s great! So, what was it you wanted from me?” Leorio asked, shoving his hands lazily in his pockets and tilting his head slightly to the left like a curious puppy dog. Kurapika felt his heart skip a beat. 

“Um, well, I was going to thank you. For yesterday. Someone pointed out to me that I’m really stubborn and I was a jerk yesterday. It’s really nice to know I have friends who care for me.” Kurapika responded, realizing just how cheesy that sounded after saying it. Leorio immediately turned to look away, as if it was embarrassing to hear. 

“Eh, no need to thank me. I’d do that for anyone.” Leorio responded and Kurapika smiled fondly. No, he would not, he was just saying that. “It’s no big deal, I’m glad you’re okay.” Leorio tagged on and Kurapika nodded.

“I was just wondering if you wanted to, uh, help me with something.” Kurapika asked, hesitating slightly as he began to speak. He wasn’t sure if this would work, Leorio was senior in high school and going into the medical field. He probably had so much more important things to do. 

“What’s up?” He asked, his lazy demeanor not tensing up or shifting at all. Kurapika had never asked this of anyone and it was hard enough for him to do it on his own.

“Melody’s birthday is next week, the day before districts. Do want to help me surprise her?” He asked and it was almost as if Leorio’s entire face lit up. Kurapika felt himself become lighter at the look he was getting.

“Of course, that would be awesome! What did you have in mind?” Leorio asked, and the two spent the rest of lunch planning the surprise for Melody.

\---

“Alright, everyone! Thank you for coming to practice today. Have a great weekend!” Kurapika finished up the math team meeting and the group shuffled out of Mr. Bernard’s office with grins on their faces and weekend plans in their minds. Melody had gone home early because of a family emergency. Her mother needed to do something and had asked Melody to come home and watch her younger siblings until she got back.

So it was Leorio and Kurapika who left the classroom last.

Leorio waved goodbye and headed toward his car as Kurapika stopped at the entrance to the school and stared in the direction of his house. Then he turned and raced toward Leorio.

“Leorio, can I catch a ride home?” The sound of another person behind him almost made the taller student jump, but he managed to smooth it over by turning around to see who it was. Kurapika ran daintily toward him, carrying his binder under one arm and up against his hip. The baggy clothes he normally wore swayed dramatically with every step, but Leorio heard no footsteps.

“Of course. Hop in. I just have a couple of quick stops to make.” Leorio answered, slipping into his car with a huff while Kurapika reached the vehicle. It was a little old for the time, but it ran and that was all that Leorio needed it to do. Kurapika plopped into the passenger seat as he started the car.

“Do you need me to remind you where my house is?“ Kurapika asked Leorio, but Leorio shook his head.

“I’m good, but we’ll get to that later. First, my stops.” He responded, shifting the car into reverse and then looking behind his seat, using Kurapika’s seat to give him leverage. “That’s fine, right?” Leorio asked, freezing in this task to look Kurapika right in the eye.

“Uh, yeah. It’s fine.” The smaller boy muttered in response, looking toward his lap while tucking his hair behind one ear. Leorio refrained from squealing over the action, keeping it simply to a small ‘that was cute’ in his head.

“Good, because they’re some pretty great stops.” Leorio informed him as he backed out a little sloppily and then practically peeled out of the parking lot. Kurapika held himself in place for a while until he had gotten used to the feel of the car. 

Softly some music played in the background. Leorio had it turned to a jazz station when he was alone in the car, so it was still playing it from earlier that morning. Curious, Kurapika turned it up. Trying very hard not to change the station, Leorio caught the words and the music in the song and grinned.

“I love this song!” He exclaimed, making Kurapika jump as he reached for the volume knob, brushing passed Kurapika’s hand without any fear. As he turned it up the words became louder and the music more controlling.

“’And I'm trying to please to the calling/Of your heart-strings that play soft and low.’” Leorio sang along to the music as Kurapika stared at him. His voice was not exactly on key, but it was obvious he knew the song well. When Leorio caught Kurapika’s look, the younger boy turned away and stared ahead.

“What song is this?” He asked, sounding genuinely curious about what song they were listening to. Leorio grinned, glad he was interested.

“It’s Moondance. One of my all time favorites.” Leorio responded, swinging his shoulders in time with the music. Kurapika nodded and listened to the words for a bit longer before asking another question.

“What’s it about?” This time his voice was a bit quieter, as if he was trying to listen as he spoke. Leorio grinned a bit at this, debating about how much he should tell. Figuring the kid wasn’t as innocent as he seemed, he decided the whole truth was fine.

“It’s a love song. Kind of a romantic night under the stars sort of thing. But it also references making love under the light of the full moon.” References was an understatement considering the line ‘and every time I touch you, you just tremble inside.’

Leorio jumped in the next second, nearly swerving off the road when Kurapika shot out his hand and muted the music. Gaping at the boy and trying to keep his eyes on the road at the same time he exclaimed:

“What was that!?” Leorio was trying not to freak out that this boy had just turned off the radio because the song was about sex. There were plenty of songs about sex on the radio that were probably more about sex than Moondance was. 

“Why would you listen to something like that?” Kurapika asked, his voice sounding appalled and his body language suggesting he wasn’t comfortable with the situation. Leorio finally turned off the road and into a parking lot, allowing himself to turn his full body toward Kurapika as he spoke next.

“Because it’s good? Who doesn’t like a little romance under the moonlight?” Leorio asked, finding it hard to believe Kurapika didn’t enjoy the thought of a little somethin’-somethin’ under the light of the full moon.

“I mean, I wouldn’t mind a candlelit picnic, but s-s-s-making love?” Kurapika questioned and Leorio’s face lit up like a Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. Kurapika shied backward.

“Oh my gosh, you’re a virgin!” Leorio practically shouted this and Kurapika glanced around the parking lot they were sitting in nervously. There was no one immediately outside the window, so he turned back to Leorio.

“I don’t like talking about this stuff.” Kurapika responded and Leorio laughed loudly before opening the door and stepping out. Kurapika rushed to join him as he entered the convenience store they had stopped at.

“Most virgins can’t talk about it.” Leorio whispered to Kurapika as he stepped up beside him, his shorter legs moving faster to keep up. Kurapika kept looking around the store nervously, as if someone would come up behind them any minute and tell them to stop talking about it. 

“Please, this is really uncomfortable.” He whispered and Leorio chuckled. As they reached the drink coolers in the back he turned toward Kurapika and leaned down, slightly in his face.

“What’s wrong with it? All you do is take your-“ He was cut off by Kurapika’s hands shooting forward and slapping against his face as he yelled Leorio’s name loudly. The entire store stopped to stare at them and Kurapika turned a shade of pink. Removing his hands, he wiped them off on his pants.

“Leorio, please. I don’t like talking about this.” Kurapika muttered, turning away from Leorio to face the drink coolers. The look on his face was definitely uncomfortable, so Leorio sighed and straightened up.

“Alright. Choose a soda and a snack and meet me at the front.” He muttered, trying to sound like he was just changing the subject of his own accord rather than because he was being nice. Kurapika looked back up at him with a confused expression as he walked away.

“What?” He asked, glad the subject had changed but knowing better than to rub it in. Leorio was opening a drink cooler and pulling out some dark liquid in a bottle. 

“I call it triple S.” Leorio responded and when Kurapika gave him another confused look he clarified. “Soda, Snacks, and Sunset. So when you’re done choosing a soda, go ahead and grab a snack.” Kurapika found himself smiling slightly at this so he turned back to the drinks and reached into one. He wasn’t one for soda, so he grabbed strawberry lemonade instead.

Walking down one of the isles he grabbed a bag of BBQ chips and found Leorio at the front of the store with a Dr. Pepper and the same kind of chips.

“I see you have a good taste in chips.” Leorio joked when he notice Kurapika’s bag of chips. Kurapika smiled at this while Leorio paid for everything and they headed back into the car. Leorio backed them out in the silence of the car. 

“So, what’s the sunset part of triple S?” Kurapika asked as they drove along the road, the businesses and houses getting sparser the further they drove.

“I sit on Anne Queen Hill and watch the sun set.” Leorio answered and Kurapika shied closer to the door. When Leorio made a quizzical look Kurapika attempted to explain.

“Isn’t that the, um, the hill known for making out and…other things?” Kurapika asked and Leorio chuckled lightly. Kurapika shot him an annoyed look. “I know you think I’m just being paranoid, but almost everyone at school knows you find me attractive and I don’t feel comfortable with that.” Kurapika defended himself and Leorio glanced over for a moment before shaking his head with a sigh.

“Kurapika, I don’t make a move on a guy unless I know for sure he’s bi or gay.” Leorio answered and Kurapika nodded, feeling at least a little better about the whole thing. As long as he kept quiet about the fact that he was gay, he wouldn’t have to face his feelings toward Leorio head on.

They weren’t very far from Anne Queen Hill after this comment so they drove the rest of the way in silence. Kurapika was still feeling a little uneasy about the whole thing, but he didn’t want to make Leorio think he didn’t trust him.

Slowly the car pulled to a stop in a parking lot behind the lookout. Leorio put it into park as Kurapika stepped out and headed toward the lookout point. There was no railing to keep children from falling off the steep drop before him and he felt exhilarated by the wind rising up to catch him.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Leorio asked, coming up behind him. Kurapika nodded toward him silently and Leorio smiled at him. The tall teen sat down with his legs over the ledge and cracked open his soda. When Kurapika didn’t move he patted the ground next to him, promptly brushing the dirt off of his hand when he had completed the gesture. Kurapika joined him and opened his lemonade. 

For a moment there was silence as the two watched the sun disappear over the horizon.

“So, Kurapika Kurta, what makes you tick?” Leorio asked after a little bit of silence. He looked over at the smaller boy out of the corner of his eye and noticed he was looking a bit contemplative.

“Why do you ask?” Kurapika questioned back and Leorio chuckled at his guardedness. It was silly that he was so uptight around everyone; even his best friend didn’t seem to relax him enough.

“Because I want to know? Because Mr. B said that we should get to know each other if we’re going to work together better?” Leorio responded, his answers sounding more like questions than answers. When he saw Kurapika still looking confused he laughed. “Do I need a reason to want to know you better?” Leorio asked and Kurapika looked away. He was considering what Leorio had said earlier about not making a move when he decided it was safe to answer as long as he watched what he said.

“What makes me tick?” He repeated Leorio’s question and when Leorio nodded, he nodded in return. “Um, well, I guess not a lot does. I want to do well in school to get a good job when I graduate college. I don’t plan on getting married or having kids, or even falling in love for that matter. Um, what else do you want to know?” Kurapika asked, looking over at Leorio who appeared surprised.

“For one: that sounds so boring! Why don’t you want love? Life is nothing without love! For another: what do you like? Other than school, what makes you happy? What kind of job do you want?” Leorio clarified and Kurapika turned away again, taking another sip of his lemonade and continuing to think hard.

“It’s not boring. I’ve survived without love this long; I think I can handle it. I don’t really like anything other than school, really. Um, reading? I was hoping I could get a job as a detective after graduating.” Kurapika answered the questions as he saw fit and Leorio’s eyes widened in surprise at the job he wished he could get.

“That’s a pretty cool job. Any particular reason why?” Leorio asked, deciding to drop the subject of love. Kurapika would feel lonely at some point in time and notice Leorio was right.

“I don’t need a reason to do anything, Leorio.” Kurapika spat and Leorio flinched. What had he done wrong? He was pretty sure he had just asked an innocent question.

“Well obviously there’s a reason, or else you wouldn’t have gotten so defensive just now.” Leorio pointed out, leaning forward a bit to try and look Kurapika in the eye.

“Well there isn’t, so drop it.” Kurapika answered, snapping his head toward Leorio and glaring right into his eyes. Leorio’s breath caught when he saw his eyes: they were red.

“Okay, fine, whatever. But can I ask you why your eyes turn red every time you’re angry at me?” Leorio asked, feeling himself become just a tad bit defensive. Kurapika gasped when he had posed the question and raised his hand toward his face.

“You can see it?” He asked, looking away from Leorio nervously. What?

“Of course I can, it’s kind of hard to miss.” Leorio responded, his expression becoming confused as Kurapika took out what must have been a contact. When Kurapika looked back up at him the red was far more obvious than before, taking over his entire iris.

“I wear these colored contacts so that no one will notice. I haven’t met someone yet who could see through them.” Kurapika responded and Leorio tilted his head, further confused by this explanation. Kurapika sighed and looked away, the red fading to reveal a plain, grey-ish brown color. “My eyes turn red when I feel intense emotion. Mostly when I’m angry, happy, or scared.” 

Leorio nodded, finding this a little odd. It was a bit supernatural, when he thought about it, but it was obviously not something Kurapika really talked about. So he turned away and took a sip of his pop, having almost forgotten about it entirely. The sun was beginning to touch the horizon, shooting bright shades of orange across the sky.

“What about you, Leorio? What makes you tick?” Kurapika asked and Leorio almost jumped. He hadn’t expected to hear anything from the smaller boy so soon. 

“Ah, me. I plan on falling in love, getting married, and having at least one child. I love playing sports and hanging out with my friends. I’m smarter than people think I am and I plan on becoming a doctor.” Leorio responded and Kurapika scoffed. “What?” Leorio inquired, sounding slightly offended.

“None of that is new, Leorio.” Kurapika responded and Leorio huffed, taking a disgruntled sip of his soda before adding on one thing no one knew.

“Pietro is dying.” Leorio could almost feel Kurapika stiffen from where he was sitting a few inches away. Instead of waiting for Kurapika to ask something else, Leorio continued. “It’s a very curable disease, but his family can’t afford the treatment. I want to be a doctor that can give anyone anything they need without it costing too much.” This was where Leorio stopped and the two went completely silent.

The only sounds were the birds chirping lazily and the wind rustling the dry grasses beside them. The sun was halfway below the horizon at this point and Leorio felt himself filling with joy at the sight of the colors it gave off.

“How long does he have?” Kurapika whispered. Leorio felt like it was inappropriate to break the silence but he figured it wasn’t going to hurt to talk a bit more.

“No one knows. The doctors keep saying a day to three years. I hope he lives longer, but that’s not as likely.” Leorio answered and they fell back into the silence they were in earlier. Leorio felt it was about time to leave when Kurapika spoke again.

“I want to be a detective to avenge my family.” Leorio’s head snapped in Kurapika’s direction when he said this. Surprise was written all over his face in the fading light whereas a calm look took over Kurapika’s. “I want to take down the Phantom Troupe.” 

“What!? You’ve gotta be insane! That’s the toughest gang in Yorknew City! You must have a death wish!” Leorio exclaimed and Kurapika looked back over at him, his eyes red as ever. He must have removed the other contact because his eyes practically glowed in the diming light.

“So what if I have a death wish!? I watched my entire family get murdered before me! I live in constant fear of coming out to anyone! I don’t have anything to live for anymore! I’m lost Leorio, and my only direction is the Phantom Troupe!” Kurapika exclaimed and Leorio shot forward.

Their lips met for five seconds.

Leorio almost fell over the edge as Kurapika pushed backward on his chest, scrambling backward and to his feet, his expression one of surprise, fear, and anger.

“What the heck!” He yelled, gesturing angrily with his lemonade bottle. “You said you only make a move if you know for sure someone’s gay!” Kurapika shouted, his entire body shaking from nerves and the onset of the cold night.

“You just said you were afraid of coming out!” Leorio shouted back and Kurapika’s breath caught in his throat. Tears began to well up in his eyes and he began to storm off. He was passed the car by the time Leorio had gotten to his feet to follow after him.

“Pika! Come back!” Leorio shouted and Kurapika growled under his breath.

“Don’t call me that!” He yelled behind himself and Leorio jogged toward him, stopping at the nose of his car. With a sigh he rolled his eyes.

“Do you plan on walking home?” Leorio asked and, when there was no answer, added, “can I at least drive you home?” At this Kurapika froze. Angrily he turned around and headed back toward the car where he got in and sat in the passenger seat with more attitude than Leorio had ever seen in anyone.

Slipping into the driver’s seat he started the car and they pulled out of the parking lot at Anne Queen Hill and headed back into town. There were no words spoken.When they finally reached Kurapika’s house he got out without saying another word and Leorio hit his head against the steering wheel. How could he be so stupid?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anne Queen Hill comes from Queen Anne Hill in Seattle. I wasn't feeling particularly creative, so I pulled Yorknew CIty on something I knew. 
> 
> Next time: Melody's surprise


	5. Right Time, Wrong Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leorio and Kurapika treat Melody on her birthday, but everything's a little tense after last night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is getting tense, ya'll

It was hard to get up the next morning, mid October sunlight streaming through the window. Kurapika always got up early, even on weekends. He had a lot to get done and very little time to do it. But he had managed to put aside most of his homework, completed, so that he and Leorio could surprise Melody.

It was her birthday.

There was only one problem: Leorio had kissed him the previous night and Kurapika didn’t want to go anywhere near him. What had that idiot been thinking? He was opening up to someone for the first time and Leorio only thinks of one thing: Kurapika had basically admitted to being gay. 

Laying in his bed, Kurapika cursed under his breath and slapped his hands against his face, covering his eyes and groaning at the memory of what he said to Leorio. And the fact that his eyes had definitely turned red after Leorio had kissed him. Sure, it was safe to assume that Kurapika had been pissed, he was sure that was what Leorio had assumed. But a small part of him thought that maybe, just maybe, it was actually something else. 

Rolling over and screaming into his pillow Kurapika tried to erase these thoughts from his head. It was Melody’s birthday. For all the years he had known her, Kurapika had never done anything for her birthday. He had always come to the parties her family threw and that seemed to be all she cared about. Small get togethers with her friends (basically just Kurapika) and what family lived in the area. Melody wasn’t a loud person, so it never really interested her to do more.

Plus, Kurapika had never had the money to get her anything for treat her to something. So when the thought had crossed his mind, asking Leorio only seemed logical. The tall senior seemed to enjoy Melody’s company and Melody genuinely appreciated Leorio’s attention. She was easy to please, though, so it was kind of hard to get on her bad side.

As he lay in bed, Kurapika struggled with thinking of Melody instead of Leorio’s extremely close proximity the previous night. Every time he thought about it he screamed silently in his head. 

It wasn’t until his phone vibrated that he realized he had been sitting in bed far longer than was necessary. Reaching over to his nightstand he grabbed the phone and flipped it open. It had been a miracle he had retained a phone at all through all the homes he had been through, so the model of phone wasn’t a bother to Kurapika.

On the brightly lit screen was a message from Leorio. It asked if they were still on for surprising Melody. Kurapika sighed, knowing what had happened last night should not get in the way of Melody’s happiness. Curtly he replied with a ‘yes’ before setting down the phone and getting out of bed. Quickly he tidied up the blankets, make sure there weren’t very many wrinkles before digging through his drawers before finding a good shirt and his favorite pair of pants. 

Quickly he pulled these on before entering the bathroom to proceed with the day. As he leaned over the sink, he washed his face, the feeling of the water starting to wake him up a bit. Standing straight he looked into the mirror and gasped slightly at his eyes.

The glowed a deep, beautiful shade of red. It wasn’t very often that he got to see his eyes in this state and it was a shock every time. 

Staring into the mirror he wondered what was making them do this. He was as calm as ever, simply getting ready for the day wasn’t enough to trigger his eyes. But then he realized that he had just been freaking out over the previous night and he felt confusion flare inside of him. Had he been excited or angry about what Leorio did? 

Hurriedly he searched the vanity in the bathroom, opening the case where he kept his contacts. They weren’t in there. 

Panicking he searched the cupboard. He was all out of colored contacts and his emotions were at a new height and he wasn’t sure if he could control it. There was no solution to his problem, without the contacts everyone would see his eyes. Rushing to the window above his bed he glanced outside to find that the weather was playing nice and the sun was shining brighter than ever.

“Oh good.” He muttered to himself before digging into the drawer on his nightstand and taking out the sunglasses he kept there. He knew it Marta and Allin were awake upstairs they would ask why he was wearing them, so he slid them onto the top of his head as he finished the rest of his morning routine and trekked up the stairs, wary of any possible signs of life.

When he reached the top of the staircase he glanced around the living room, finding no one there. From the sounds of it, there was no one in the kitchen either. Good, he was safe.

Slipping the sunglasses down his face he grabbed himself a packet of pop tarts from a cupboard and headed out the door. Trotting lightly he made his way over to Melody’s house and up the nicely mown front lawn, along the paved path her parents had lain several years ago. Knocking lightly, he knew someone was bound to be up. Her younger siblings enjoyed waking her parents up early.

The door popped open to reveal a short woman of similar appearance to Melody. The biggest difference was her thick, dark brown hair pulled out of her face into a tight braid down her back. 

“Good morning, Mrs. Flute. Is Melody home?” Kurapika knew the answer to this was obvious, Melody was always at home on Saturday, helping her mom with the younger ones. 

“Good morning, Kurapika! Yep! Come on in while I get her.” She gestured for Kurapika to come in and he did so, thanking her as she headed down the hallway to go get Melody. The house was buzzing with life, though Kurapika didn’t see a single person. He could hear thumps and laughter from various locations in the house and figured someone was playing a game.

After a couple of minutes, there came a thumping down the stairs and Melody revealed herself in the hallway entrance.

“Kurapika! You never come here unannounced. What’s up?” Melody asked, coming right up to him with a curious look on her face. She was wearing a dress Kurapika didn’t recognize and figured was new with her hair pulled back into a neat ponytail. Other than a pair of shoes, she looked ready for a day out.

“Marta and Allin asked me to stop by the mall for a few things. I was wondering if you wanted to come with?” It wasn’t unusual for Marta and Allin to ask random things of Kurapika, in attempts to involve him in their lives somehow. Most of the time, Kurapika didn’t invite Melody along on this excursions, but sometimes he felt he needed company. So it wasn’t odd of him to ask this of her.

“That sounds great. I’ll just go tell my mom and grab some shoes.” Melody responded, a grin lighting her face. It was nice to see she was already happy. Kurapika smiled fondly as she walked away and proceeded to pull his phone from his pocket, flipping the sunglasses up to look into the dark, black of the blank screen. 

It was harder to see if his eyes were glowing in a black screen, but Kurapika had learned the difference and, from what it looked like, his eyes weren’t glowing. Sighing with relief he left the sunglasses flipped onto his head and waited for Melody like that.

It wasn’t very long before his friend came back down the stairs, wearing a pair of converse and carrying a small bag over her shoulder. 

“Alright! Let’s go!” Melody said, hopping out the door with Kurapika following behind, much less energetic than his shorter friend. Her enthusiasm was a bit contagious, though, since he smiled the whole way to the mall.

Their chatter was boring, indifferent stuff. Kurapika didn’t bring up the previous night at all, not wanting to make the day about him. The biggest problem with this goal was that Melody had the habit of asking about others and not bringing herself up. So Kurapika had to constantly ask her about something specific, which didn’t seem to make her suspicious, but just slightly less talkative.

It didn’t take long to get to the mall, considering they went by bus, so it was barely passed noon when they arrived at the west entrance to the mall, where Leorio said he would meet Kurapika. Kurapika felt his nerves rise and feared that his eyes were turning red as they approached the entrance. Flipping the sunglasses back into his face, he completely missed the look Melody gave him when he did so. 

Upon entering the mall, the two found it far more crowded than anticipated. Despite the busy nature of the mall, Kurapika figured it would be very hard to miss Leorio, considering how tall he was. 

This proved to be true as they headed toward the directory and were instantly ambushed by a tall, gangly senior holding a single balloon and a bag.

“Hey, guys. Fancy meeting you here!” Leorio exclaimed, catching their attention and making them jump. Kurapika averted his gaze from the tall senior, but Leorio had already turned his attention to Melody. “My, don’t you look nice today.” Leorio complimented, his voice nonchalant, as if nothing was on his mind. Kurapika was sure that his eyes were red now.

Melody giggled and then pointed up at the balloon Leorio was carrying. “Was this planned?” She asked when Leorio glanced up at it as well, as if not even realizing he was holding it. The silly action was something akin to how Melody treated her younger siblings and part of Kurapika wondered if Leorio was an only child.

“What? I don’t even know where this came from! Is it your birthday today?” Leorio asked, earning more laughs from Melody. Kurapika couldn’t help himself and smiled slightly as well. It was kind of cute, watching Leorio joke around like this. It was also rather funny looking, considering how tall and adult-like Leorio looked.

“Yeah, how’d you know?” Melody asked, shooting Kurapika a side glance. Kurapika cracked a massive grin, unable to contain himself under the all knowing eye of his best friend. 

“A little bird may have mentioned something.” Leorio said with a shrug before offering Melody the balloon. She took it from him as he opened the bag he was carrying. “I got a cake, too, but that can probably wait for later.” He said as he pulled out a mini cake from inside the bag. It had music notes all over it and said ‘Happy Birthday, Melody!’ in big letters. 

“You guys didn’t have to do this. My mom’s throwing a party for everyone later tonight.” Melody informed them as she took the bag from Leorio as well, tying the balloon string around the handle. 

“I figured, after all these years of only saying happy birthday, I should give you something more.” Kurapika said, trying his hardest not to look right at Melody as he said it. He wasn’t a sappy person and this was getting awfully close. “Plus, it’s kind of a thank you for being my friend all these years.” Kurapika added on, definitely looking away as he said this part. Melody’s smile could not have gotten any bigger as she set the bag down and wrapped Kurapika in a tight hug.

“It’s been a pleasure. I look forward to more years to come.” He said and Kurapika felt himself full to the brim with joy. So maybe he couldn’t have his family back, but these two were far more than enough. 

“Alright, birthday girl. What do you want to do first?” Leorio asked after the hug lingered a bit longer than it should have. Kurapika was glad to have Melody let go, even though he appreciated the sentiment. 

“How about we go to one of those expensive clothing stores? Just to try stuff on.” Melody suggested, her face lighting up as she said it. Kurapika could tell that this was right down her and Leorio’s aisles, considering the tall senior was seemed to plan how he dressed and Kurapika knew Melody well to know how much she enjoyed her clothes.

“That sounds like a fantastic plan!” Leorio exclaimed, gesturing for Melody to lead the way. They ended up walking in an awkward triangle with Melody at the head and Kurapika walked beside Leorio in the back. Kurapika avoided looking at Leorio as they walked and he could tell Leorio was suddenly tense from being right beside Kurapika.

“So, uh, what’s up with the sunglasses?” Leorio asked after they had been walking a while. Melody seemed to have a particular store in mind, as she was walking a bit further ahead of them with a purpose in her step.

“It’s sunny outside.” Kurapika responded, knowing this wasn’t going to hold off Leorio long enough. It was sunny outside, yeah, but they were inside. And Kurapika had put them back on right before re-entering the mall. 

“But you’re inside now.” Leorio pointed out and Kurapika cursed in his head the fact that Leorio wasn’t as stupid as he had originally thought. 

“I lost my contacts and I don’t have any more.” Kurapika admitted, his voice dropping slightly so Melody couldn’t hear them. He avoided looking up at Leorio but he could tell the older teen was trying to look him in the eyes through the sunglasses.

“Shouldn’t you be able to keep your cool on your friend’s birthday?” Leorio asked, sounding genuinely confused about it. Kurapika clicked his tongue at him and took an experimental look over at the taller boy. He could see surprise in Leorio’s eyes the instant he looked over.

“It’s extremely hard to do after…after last night.” Kurapika admitted, looking away after he had confirmed that Leorio could see his eyes glowing through the sunglasses. It seemed he was the only one able to tell through sunglasses or contacts. Kurapika hated that he could see it.

“Oh.” Was the only thing that came out of Leorio’s mouth after Kurapika told him. It was a strange ‘oh’, slightly upset, slightly interested, and definitely confused. Kurapika felt his blood boil at the sound of it, angry that Leorio didn’t have anything else to say, upset with himself for admitting it aloud to the one person he didn’t want to talk to right now. He was ready to snap at Leorio when Melody stopped in front of them.

“This place looks good!” Melody exclaimed, and the anger in Kurapika’s gaze bubbled down and stopped, especially when Leorio agreed to the location she had chosen. He was good at pretending, amazing at being fake, and perfect at being purely honest when he needed to be. Who was this and how had he become who he was?

“C’mon, Kurapika, you’ve got to try some on too.” Melody said, grabbing he friend’s hand and dragging him into the store with them. Instantly Kurapika felt his face heat up and his feet grow heavy as lead.

“Wh-what? No! I think I’m good.” Kurapika protested, looking around at all the fashionable, stylish clothing lining the shelves and racks. This was definitely Leorio’s kind of store. It would be Melody’s too if she could afford something like this.

“Nope, you’re trying something on. Even if Leorio and I have to push you into the changing room with it.” Melody declared, reaching for the first thing she saw on the shelves. Immediately she and Leorio were at home, grabbing item after item to try on, asking each others’ opinions, and telling Kurapika what he would try on. All of it was kind of a sensory overload for the nerd wearing what Leorio had dubbed ‘old lady’ clothes.

Before he knew it, the blonde teenager was standing in a rather spacious dressing room with a pile of clothes over one arm. Nervously he hung everything up on the available hooks and looked it all over. He would never have even dreamed of touching half of this stuff. 

“And don’t forget to show us!” Melody called from one of the other dressing rooms. Leorio called back in agreement and Kurapika managed a small grunt he hoped she heard. Show them? Kurapika felt his hands shaking as he removed the first shirt from the hanger they had given him. It was a plain flannel of blues and greens, something he was sure he had seen at school before. 

After officially buttoning it up over his front, Kurapika looked up and gasped. Who was that? Obviously it was him, his short blonde hair and the sunglasses were enough to tell him that. But he looked so…different with the shirt on.

“Everyone ready for the first item?” Leorio called from somewhere and Melody responded enthusiastically with Kurapika offering yet another grunt. But this was more out of surprise than annoyance. He actually felt good.

Stepping out of the fitting room, he felt almost bare without his baggy, comfortable top to hide himself under. The flannel’s material was actually pretty thick, but it hugged his arms and torso more than the shirt he had worn to the mall. 

Turning toward where he was sure Leorio and Melody were, he was caught like a deer in the headlights of their gazes. They both stood, slack jawed before him, wearing their own nice new clothes. Only their outfits looked normal and fitting, something Kurapika would believe they’d wear any day.

“Kurapika, that looks so good on you!” Melody exclaimed, rushing forward and making him down a three-sixty to show her the full shirt. Leorio’s eyes said the same thing, but the blush on his cheeks told just a bit more of a story. Blushing himself under such a stare, he thanked Melody and told her his honest opinion about the shirt. 

For the next twenty minutes or so they went through the same thing. Slowly, Kurapika got used to the amazing way he felt when he wore the clothes in the hangers. Slowly, the clothes got more and more feminine. He didn’t mind when it was a shirt or a pair of skinny jeans. Even those boots had looked really good on him. 

It crossed the line when he reached the last hanger and found a dress perched daintily on it.

“Um, guys, why do I have a dress?” He called, wary of the dark purple, form fitting dress that hung before him.

“Oh yeah! I told Leorio I would only try on pants if he tried on a dress. He must have given you a dress too.” Melody called, laughing lightly at the idea of it. Kurapika felt himself flush a thousand degrees darker. What was Leorio thinking? That was a rather bold move after the previous night and Kurapika having told him that was the reason he had the sunglasses.

“Kurapika, are you ready yet?” It was Melody calling to him from her changing room and he realized he had been staring at the dress for a little longer than he had anticipated. With a sigh he grabbed the dress of the hanger and pulled it on, finding that it actually fit really well and wasn’t very hard to pull on. For a moment he stared into the mirror at himself before Melody asked him again, sounding just a little bit distressed since he hadn’t responded the first time. 

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m ready.” He muttered in response. The countdown Melody started for the reveal let him know she had heard him, but he was slow to react when she finally reached zero. He opened the door to the dressing room as Leorio was complimenting Melody in her pants.

“Those look really good on you.” He was saying, as Kurapika came out from behind the door to see that he was right. The jeans fit Melody just right and looked extremely good on her. Leorio, on the other hand, looked purely ridiculous in the tight dress that barely reached halfway down his thighs. It was far too small on him and, if it had been any shorter, they would be seeing way too much of Leorio.

“Wow, Melody, that does look good on you.” Kurapika commented when he finally drew his attention away from Leorio’s broad chest and shoulders. Leorio immediately froze with the same look on his face as he had every time Kurapika stepped out of the dressing room. Melody turned around and grinned at Kurapika.

“That dress looks really good on you, Kurapika.” Melody said, motioning for the three-sixty turn. Kurapika gave it to her, feeling himself heat up under the ever watchful gaze of Leorio. He knew how much Leorio liked him, this was going a little too far.

“What about without the sunglasses?” Leorio suggested suddenly, immediately slapping a hand over his mouth when he had said it. Kurapika felt himself heat up with an entirely different emotion.

“You have a lot of nerve saying that.” Kurapika hissed, his anger bubbling over and finally finding its way into his words.

“Why? It’s stupid to wear sunglasses inside! I bet you’d look better without them on, anyway!” Leorio snapped back, Melody between them taking on a look of shock as they fought it out right in front of her.

“I’m sure I look fine like this! Plus, from what I’ve heard, red doesn’t go well with maroon!” Kurapika shot back, mocking a very preppy person’s voice when he said the last part. Leorio figured he would laugh if this was a completely different situation.

“Hold on a second! What’s going on with you two?” Melody exclaimed, stepping between them and shoving her hands out to her sides, as if pushing them away from each other. Leorio looked down at Melody, his apologetic look reflecting how Kurapika felt. But Leorio then looked back up at Kurapika, his expression one of slight anger.

“She doesn’t know?” He asked, sounding more accusatory than anything. Melody’s look turned even more confused and she turned to Kurapika.

“What?” She asked and Kurapika looked away from Leorio and Melody, wringing his hands along with the hem of the dress.

“Well, kind of.” Kurapika responded and Leorio crossed his arms over his broad chest as if insisting Kurapika say something. Melody’s gaze shot between the two of them, still very confused. With a sigh, Kurapika removed his sunglasses. Melody gasped, reaching her hand up to touch Kurapika’s cheek.

“Your eyes haven’t done this for years.” She whispered, as if the subject was touchy. Which it was. Leorio’s angry expression turned to one of surprise. Kurapika had to refrain from giving him a look back to tell him to shut up.

“They never stopped. I got colored contacts to hide them. Leorio was the first person to see right through them.” Kurapika muttered as Melody looked him carefully in the eyes. They burned an angry red, fueled by his anger, frustration, and confusion all at once.

“Alright, we’re all getting changed. Kurapika and I need to have a talk. Leorio, go find somewhere for us to eat.” Melody instructed before walking back into her own changing room to get dressed. Kurapika avoided Leorio’s gaze and headed back into his own dressing room as well. 

When Leorio came back out, the dressing rooms where his friends had been were already empty and he was alone in the back room. With a sigh, he dumped all the clothes onto the rack where they were supposed to go before tucking his hands in his pockets and heading toward the food court area. 

Standing away from all the lines, he looked over the food options. He felt like having some Chineses or Chik-fil-A or something, but it was ultimately up to Melody, since it was her birthday. As he stood by the tables, he felt someone come up next to him.

“Fancy meeting you here.” Pietro said, looking up at Leorio as he said it. The tall senior took on a false, excited smile. He realized that it had been weeks since had last hung out with his teammates just for the fun of it.

“Pietro! It’s so good to see you.” He exclaimed, hoping he was coming off as convincing enough. Obviously he wasn’t, because Pietro’s relaxed face turned into an angry look before he crossed his arms and looked right into Leorio’s eyes.

“Why do you spend so much time with them?” Pietro demanded to know, he wasn’t just asking. Leorio turned his face toward the ground and the smile he had cracked disappeared within an instant. There was no avoiding this, it would have to be answered eventually.

“Well, they’re my team-“ Leorio started, but he was cut off as soon as he began.

“We’re your team, Leorio! We’ve been your team for four years! Why are you so focused on them, all of a sudden?” Pietro demanded, pointing across the food court area where Kurapika and Melody sat on a bench. Melody had an arm around Kurapika and the thin sophomore was bent over to the point that Leorio couldn’t see his face. He felt his heart shatter at the image.

“I don’t know.” He muttered, looking away from where Pietro was pointing. His childhood friend scoffed.

“I don’t believe that.” He spat, sounding angrier than he had been mere seconds ago. Leorio hazarded a glance at him and noticed the look in his eyes. It was similar to the one Kurapika got every time his eyes turned red. What if everyone’s eyes did that?

“I don’t know, Pietro. Really.” Leorio lied, feeling himself starting to believe it, just for the sake of Pietro. He was spending far more time with a group of people most popular kids would die to be seen with. But Leorio felt right at home among them. Pietro wanted to know that, and Leorio was pretty sure he knew the answer.

“I’m not buying that bull, Leorio. I’ve known you since we were little. Why do you spend so much time with them?” He demanded, getting as close to Leorio as he could despite his small stature.

“Maybe it’s because they’re my crowd? Maybe I’m reverting back to who I was in middle school!? You said it yourself, you’ve known me since we were little. You remember how bad it was. I was bullied, pushed around, and everybody picked on me. I thought I hated it, thought I needed something else. But I didn’t. I think I know that now. I love basketball, it’s fun and I enjoy playing. But there’s something about the math team that’s just so much more invigorating.” Leorio snapped, feeling himself heat up with the same emotions he was sure Kurapika had just spewed only moments before.

“The math team?” Pietro got really quiet when he said this and Leorio felt himself drain of all color. Pietro hadn’t been talking about the math team, just Kurapika and Melody. The basketball team had yet to find out that Leorio was on the math team. He had been doing so well at keeping it a secret.

“Pietro, it’s-“ But he was cut off again when Pietro threw a hand up like a drama queen.

“I don’t want to hear excuses.” He hissed, sounding more hostile than Leorio had ever heard him sound toward any competition. “You choose, and you choose before the season starts: us or them.” With that the shorter teen turned away and headed in a completely different direction.

As he did, Leorio turned back toward the food stands and felt his appetite completely vanish. How could he think of food after that? His thoughts raced a mile a minute and he couldn’t help but look just a little distraught. It wasn’t until someone else came up behind him that he snapped back to reality with a nasty jerk.

“So, Leorio, what looks good?” It was Melody, with Kurapika trailing behind her. The blonde teen had the sunglasses on again and was clearly avoiding looking at Leorio. For a moment, Leorio wanted to know what Kurapika was thinking, what was running through his head, but he had to turn back to Melody and give her an answer.

“I was thinking Chinese.” He responded, trying his best to sound happy and excited about having lunch with the gang. This was going to be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: first districts match!


	6. Real Screw Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At the first districts match in the tournament, things don't go quite as Kurapika plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In researching how math competitions work, I realized that there is very little info. So this is how this one goes:
> 
> The preliminary rounds narrows the competition from 12 schools to 6. Then there are three more competitions between the six to decide the ultimate district victor and the team to go onto Nationals in the Spring. 
> 
> Also, mega angst

The first districts match was Monday. The Monday after the weekend Leorio got the least amount of sleep. The Monday Leorio realized his life was going nowhere fast and he was losing more people than he was gaining. The Monday he seriously questioned who he was.

After school the team took a bus to the high school where the competition was being held. There wouldn’t be a competition at Yorknew High unless they won this one, so they had to take a bus to the first match. As they rode, Leorio listened to the nervous chatter of the his other teammates. They mostly reviewed what they had been working on and shot each other surprise questions. Some of them discussed how they had made it to the final match of the season and then had lost to Meteor City by only a few points.

At this, Leorio glanced over to where Kurapika sat beside Melody. The small girl was talking to someone across the aisle from her, but Kurapika was focused on whatever he had in his clipboard. Leorio had heard about the teams almost victory due to Kurapika’s smarts. But he hadn’t made it far enough. There was a certain weakness to Kurapika’s math abilities, and Leorio felt like he was slowly figuring out what it was. 

With a sigh he turned his face toward his feet and ran some of his own reviews. There was nothing he was having much trouble with. He was slower on longer equations, but that was about it. All he needed to do was think faster. But he couldn’t lose accuracy, so he had to be careful. 

The bus took a slow turn and Leorio looked up to find the looming entrance to the high school where they would be competing. The team’s chatter buzzed louder as they noticed it, their voices rising in anticipation. Kurapika didn’t move or look up, but said something in response to Melody when she spoke. Leorio had to peel himself away again. This was the first math competition of his high school career, he needed to quit thinking about Kurapika. 

As the bus pulled to a stop in the school parking lot, the team began to excitedly shuffle in their seats. They didn’t move, however, because Mr. B stood at the front of the bus and looked them all over, taking a moment to give them all a very encouraging grin.

“Alright, team. This is it. We’ve made it to districts.” Mr. B started and the team let out a very nervous, but proud, cheer in response. After they quieted down Mr. B continued. “Last year was the furthest this team has ever made it in the time I was in charge. With the amount of practice we’ve been doing, I believe we can go even further.” The team let out a much louder cheer at this. Leorio’s gaze was caught by a great lack of movement beside Melody. Kurapika had stopped writing on his clipboard and had it hugged to his chest. 

Curious, Leorio watched him and noticed his lips were moving ever so slightly. Was he praying? Leorio had no idea what words he was speaking but knew it would be impossible for even Melody to hear that over the noise. 

“Now let’s get out there and win this!” Mr. B shouted, snapping Leorio’s attention away from the team captain as the rest of the team stood and rushed toward the bus doors and to the impending competition. Slowly, Leorio rose to his feet as well, watching with a small grin on his face as the younger members passed him to get out there and do what Mr. B said. 

After all the years of being pestered to be on the math team by Mr. B, Leorio was finally there. All of his team members were younger than him and his captain was some stubborn sophomore that he felt the need to prove himself to. But after the weekend he had had, he wasn’t sure what he felt toward Kurapika or the team. Did he still really enjoy math more than basketball?

Following the last few teammates off the bus he was stopped by Mr. B, who looked him in the eye with a look Leorio had never seen on his face before. He looked concerned.

“Are you alright?” Mr. B asked, and Leorio felt the burden on his shoulders weigh heavier than it ever had before. He wanted to tell Mr. B he wasn’t alright, that he needed to take this one off. Choosing between math team and basketball was hard enough, but Kurapika still held something against him for the night he had kissed him. But he didn’t want to worry Mr. B before their first big match.

“I’m fine, Mr. B. No need to worry.” Leorio lied, a fake grin plastered to his face to try and convince the math team coach that he was. Leorio thought that Mr. B didn’t look entirely convinced, but he let Leorio go and followed him off the bus toward the entrance to what might be certain doom. 

Most of the team was already inside by the time Leorio and Mr. B walked through the front doors. The entrance to the school opened up to a large lobby area with a table sitting at the far end only about ten or more feet away. There were two very bored looking high schoolers sitting on their phones sitting at the table. 

When Leorio and Mr. B approached, one of them looked up. He was a small, angry looking kid and Leorio felt like he would die if he looked into his eyes for too long.

“Are you the coaches for Yorknew High?” He asked, his bored face looking between Mr. B and Leorio.

“He’s the coach, I’m another team member.” Leorio informed him, voice sounding just a little bit offended that this kid thought he was another coach. When he said this, the guy looked back at him and then looked him up and down, brows creased in confusion. 

“Are we allowed through now?” Mr. B asked before the kid got another chance to say anything. This caught the guy’s attention and he nodded.

“Yeah, the captain already checked everyone in. I just wanted to make sure.” He said before gesturing toward the hallway to their left where there could be chatter heard from another room. Mr. B thanked him as they left and Leorio trailed half-heartedly behind, content to watch the entire thing unfold from where he was.

They followed the sounds of chatter and buzzing toward a large room filled with people. There were high schoolers dressed in nice clothes and students wearing every day attire along with parents there to watch their kids compete. Leorio scanned the seats set out along both walls and found his mom already sitting in a row, his younger siblings running in circles around her. The sight of his family lifted his spirits slightly and he waved in their direction. 

Looking around the area, now feeling a bit better, he noticed that there was a stage at the end of the room he had entered in. The teams were far too large to all sit up there together, so instead there was a small table with a few older looking teachers. Each had a little nametag labeling them as a judge. How quaint. 

Right in front of the stage was where the long tables for the teams were set up. His team had started gathering around the table where they were to sit and Kurapika was organizing the by their fastest times answering questions. The other school had already assembled and most of them were sitting in their seats, chatting idly to pass the time. A few chairs remained empty in random spots, but Leorio figured they were just up talking to parents.

“Leorio, you’re last.” When he heard his name he turned to find Kurapika calling to him and indicating the final chair at the table. He gave him a thumbs up but Kurapika barely caught it as he turned away and headed toward his spot. With the fastest time answering questions, Leorio was able to sit at the very end of the table. Considering he also had the longest legs and was on a sports team, this spot was ideal for him.

Between both tables was a buzzer – one for both teams. It allowed them to ring in their answer and allow the judges to look at their work. The first team to get it right won, which meant if the first team rung in an incorrect answer, the other team got a shot. If both teams were wrong, the question was removed from the final score and a new question was added. It would be judge’s choice. Normally, one of the teams got it right, so this rule was in place as a safety cushion.

Leorio saluted Mr. B as a form of farewell as the coach split to go find a seat in the parents section that was close to the team. Leorio turned to sit in his seat beside Kurapika and realized that this might not be the best seating situation for him if he wants to focus. But for the competition, he could handle it. ¬¬

As he was pulling his chair in a small buzzer sound rang from the front of the room to get everyone’s attention. 

“Please take your seats. The competition is about to begin.” A voice spoke over a speaker and Leorio glanced up to the stage to see the judge sitting in the center of the table had a microphone. Their call for attention worked and soon everyone was seated, quietly waiting for the next instructions. 

“We will now begin the first districts match for the Hunter City School District Math Tournament.” The judge began, reading off of a script that was placed before them. Leorio felt his gut clench and his mind begin to work. He never got nervous at basketball games, but this was a whole new feeling. Nerves wracked his body, allowing his brain to process faster than it ever had. The adrenaline pumping through his veins felt oh so good.

In one moment, he remembered why he had stuck with the math team.

“As the rules state, the question will be shown on the screen behind me. The team’s do not start work until I tell them to start and then they will begin. The first team to hit the buzzer will have the opportunity to give the answer. If correct, they receive points. Points will go up based on the skill level of the question. Naturally, skill level will increase with every question. The team with the most answers correct advances to the next competition in October.” The judge read the rules like a queen telling her subjects what to do, only it was bored and expressionless, like she had done it many times before. “Is everything understood?” She asked, glancing up.

When she dubbed that the teams both agreed, she looked back down at her paper and continued. “Let us begin. The first question, please.” She said, looking up again and squinting to the back where someone sat with a computer. The person nodded in understanding and clicked a button. 

On the screen behind the judges table a simple math problem was projected. Leorio knew instantly it was a question in Melody’s area of expertise. Every member who knew how to solve it would solve it, but it was ultimately Melody’s specialty. This ensured that someone would always be answering a question and no one would play bystander and say someone else would get to it.

“Start.” The judge said simply and Leorio began to hastily work out the problem on the sheet of paper before him. It was extremely simple but is rapid paced double checking caught a mistake that would have lost them the points. As soon as he went back to fix it he heard the buzzer sound and saw Melody standing beside it. A member of the other team stood behind their chair and slowly approached the buzzer, just in case Melody was incorrect.

“Your answer.” The judge prompted, and Melody gave it. The judges looked down at their own work and then back at the master judge, who nodded. “Correct. Your team receives a point.” Yorknew High’s table seemed to sigh with relief. The ice had been broken on the first question.

And now the rest of the competition.

As the questions were given, the answers seemed to bounce back and forth between the two high schools. Leorio was always able to get an answer and, occasionally, would get up and give it before the rest of his team. As the questions advanced in difficulty, Leorio would glance over at Kurapika and notice his blank sheet of scrap paper. What was he waiting for? They needed all the help they could get if someone didn’t get the answer fast enough. Kurapika knew better than anyone else on the team how slow they all were.

Halfway through the competition and before the points on questions exceeded ten per question, they were allowed a break. Cookies and water bottles were brought out to the teams and each member was allowed one. Leorio thanked them with great relief as he sighed, the nerves have come down but the adrenaline still pulsing heavily through his body. 

Kurapika refused both the water and the cookie.

“Wait, here.” Leorio called the person back over before they walked too far away and took a water bottle, placing it before Kurapika. The small sophomore didn’t even flinch. “Thank you.” Leorio said before turning to look at Kurapika, whose eyes hadn’t move from the spot they were staring at on the table for the last five minutes.

“C’mon, Pika. You need to drink some water. It’ll be good for you.” Leorio said, trying to encourage some sign of life from the dead looking captain. For a moment, Kurapika didn’t respond, but then he turned his gaze up to Leorio who could see faint signs of red through the contacts he wore.

“Quit calling me that.” Kurapika hissed as Leorio leaned away from him. He held up his hands defensively and nodded.

“Alright, alright. Sheesh.” Leorio muttered, turning away and staring at the water bottle before him. What had Kurapika’s knickers in a twist? Leorio hadn’t spoken to him since the trip to the mall so he had no idea how to tell what his problem was. 

Staring off into space and thinking about what Kurapika’s issue was distracted Leorio, his face remaining stuck to his water bottle. It wasn’t until he heard his name whispered urgently all the way down the table that he realized the competition was back on.

“Leorio, it’s your question!” Someone whispered toward him as he snapped out of his thoughts. Glancing up he noticed that the question projected onto the screen was, indeed, his question. Yikes! He and Kurapika were the only two who hadn’t given a single strength or any weakness for their specialty, and no one else knew how to solve this kind of question. Hastily he began to scribble some notes down, but it wasn’t long after his pencil touched the page that the other team buzzed the buzzer and gave their own answer.

Leorio cursed under his breath, thumping his fist gently against the table so he wouldn’t alert the judges to his anger. He wasn’t sure if there were such things as technical fouls in math tournaments and he didn’t want to risk it. 

“I’m really sorry guys. I’ve definitely got any of the future ones.” Leorio whispered as the judge awarded the other team fifteen points and then asked the person who answered to sit down and await the next question.

Most of his team brushed it off, but Leorio caught a glimpse of red from Kurapika beside him. Brushing this off he forced himself to hyper focus on what was ahead of him. 

The rest of the competition went choppily and rough as they struggled to answer the more difficult questions. Once, Leorio’s legs were slower than they needed to be and he reached the buzzer right as the member from the other team pressed it. Leorio was forced to stand there and listen as he gave an incorrect answer. With a sigh of relief he gave his answer and was awarded fifteen points for it. 

As they advanced through the rest of the questions, Leorio noticed Kurapika’s page was filled full of notes and work that hadn’t been there during the first half of the competition. And yet, Kurapika never stood and gave an answer through the very end of the competition when the judges announced it was over.

“You may all take a ten minute break while the judges tall the scores.” She announced regally into her microphone and the entirety of the Yorknew High table sighed. Mr. B approached the table with a giddy grin, glad to be able to come up and talk to his team.

“Great going guys! I wasn’t keeping perfect track of the score, but I think we won!” He gave them all thumbs up and the whole team grinned and cheered. Leorio forced himself to not get his hopes up and glanced at Kurapika without thinking. The small sophomore was staring at the full water bottle before him and not moving a single muscle. Leorio was really worried.

“Would the team captains please come up to join the judges?” The lady judge who was in charge spoke into her microphone and Kurapika stood, not making eye contact with anyone as he approached the stage. Everyone on the team looked confused and Melody looked concerned. As Kurapika headed toward the stage, Leorio stood and dropped into a crouch behind Melody’s chair.

“What’s up with him?” Leorio asked, worried about Kurapika’s well being and hoping Melody had an answer of some kind. The small girl turned back to look at Leorio.

“He’s still a bit upset. He told me everything about the night before you guys took me out for my birthday.” Melody said and Leorio felt himself heating up. Kurapika had told her they kissed? More like Leorio attacked him, he thought as he stared at the ground near her feet.

“I made a stupid mistake, but he doesn’t seem to want to accept my apology.” Leorio explained and Melody nodded, her eyes taking on a thoughtful look. For a moment she looked away as Yorknew High cheered for the win and Kurapika was handed a little ribbon, similar to the one from the preliminary rounds.

“What made you kiss him like that?” Melody asked and Leorio turned away, the blush crossing his face furiously fighting his attempts to will it away. 

“Uh, well, I told him I never make a move unless I know the guys is gay. In the case of girls I don’t make a move unless I know she’s into guys. I have accidentally made a move on a lesbian, that was awkward.” Leorio began to ramble as the cheering died down and he looked up at Melody quickly to spot the not so amused look on her face. “Right sorry.”

“I told him I wouldn’t make a move until I knew for sure if he was gay. When he was telling me about his past, he said he was worried about coming out to his foster parents and it kind of just…happened.” Leorio explained, still looking down at Melody’s feet, worried about his ruining their relationship. 

“Hmm. That was a little rash, but not entirely unexpected.” Melody mused and Leorio sighed, clearly still distressed.

“I don’t know, Melody. I made him uncomfortable and now he won’t talk to me. And to top it off, my teammates from the basketball team don’t like the idea of me hanging out with you guys. But I enjoy your company just as much as I enjoy theirs. I can’t seem to figure out what I want.” Leorio sighed, dropping his face into his hands and letting out a large sigh.

Melody prepared to console the worried Leorio when Kurapika headed straight for them, tossing the winning ribbon toward Mr. B the instant he spotted the two of them sitting behind the table, just talking through the celebration. 

Kurapika’s expression read death.

“Leorio Paladinight, explain yourself!” Kurapika growled, stopping before Leorio and putting his hands on his hips like an angry mother. Which he basically was. Leorio didn’t look up immediately, holding back the tears that had been threatening while talking with Melody. When he did look up, they threatened to return. 

“What do you mean?” Leorio asked, not standing in case his excessive height angered the small blonde captain even more. Kurapika huffed.

“The one question you were supposed to answer. Why didn’t you answer it?” Kurapika growled, gesturing to the table where they had been sitting for the last hour and a half. Leorio’s brow furrowed.

“I apologized. I was spacing out a bit. I’m a bit tired from the weekend.” Leorio informed him and Kurapika seemed to flare up even more. Leorio was very surprised Kurapika’s eyes weren’t visible to the entire room at this point, they sure were bright.

“I don’t want excuses. That was your question. We could have used the points!” Kurapika yelled at him, looking down on him like a king on his high throne. This time, Leorio did stand up.

“What’s the big idea? We won, didn’t we? It doesn’t matter if I missed one question.” Leorio responded, his own voice threatening to rise. Kurapika clicked his tongue.

“We won by two points, Leorio! That question could have meant the whole competition!” Kurapika retorted, hissing angrily as he said this. Leorio rolled his eyes and threw up his hands.

“Then why didn’t you answer it? You’re perfectly capable of answering it, but you just stared off into space and didn’t even pick up your pencil.” Leorio snapped back and, for a moment, Kurapika froze. Then his eyes narrowed.

“Because it was supposed to be your question.” He shot back and Leorio threw his hands up again, this time not dropping them as far.

“So? We unanimously decided that everyone try the question out who knows they can do it, just in case the person assigned doesn’t get to it. And yet, you spent the first half of the competition doing nothing.” Leorio snapped at him and Kurapika looked away, not wanting to make eye contact with Leorio anymore. 

“If that’s how it’s going to be, I’m just going to give you more time to cool off.” Leorio said, not sounding nearly as angry as he had moments before. He shoved his hands into his pockets and turned to walk off. Kurapika shot his eyes back up to watch him go.

“Fine, go! You shouldn’t even be on this team if you’re going to be a self-centered jerk who thinks the can get away with anything. You’ve been no help so far and if you think I’ll-“ But he was cut off in the middle of his yelling when he felt a hand grab his wrist firmly, almost cutting off any blood flow.

“Stop it.” Melody hissed, her expression not one Kurapika had ever seen on his best friend. Despite the anger in her tone, her voice was still a soft sound in the midst of lots of noise. Granted, there wasn’t very much noise in the room after Kurapika’s outburst and Leorio’s defense.

“Melody.” Kurapika said, his voice trying to sound threatening to get her to let go, but turning up at the end to sound a bit more like a question. His voice enjoyed betraying him sometimes.

There was a moment of empty silence where the two stared at each other and it took almost a full minute for Mr. Bernard to notice that she meant for him to get the team out of the cafeteria where the competition had been held. As he did this and the room was emptied, Melody finally spoke.

“You don’t have the right to call him self-centered. It makes you a hypocrite.” She started, letting go of his wrist but preparing herself in case she needed to grab him again. Kurapika’s eyes widened in surprise.

“What do you mean? I’m not self-centered.” Kurapika responded, angry that she would accuse him of such an attribute.

“Kurapika, you are proud and self-centered. You don’t let anyone get to close to you because you’re afraid of losing them or hurting them. You don’t tell me anything without me needing to prompt you anymore and you’re rude to the one person who’s shown genuine interest in you in the longest time.” Melody ranted and Kurapika opened his mouth to retort, but she shut him down by continuing.

“Leorio cares a lot about you. He admits that the kiss was a rash mistake, but you should have expected something like that. He warned you that he would make a move if you admitted to being gay and you unwittingly did. Maybe he should have given you a bit more warning, but you had no reason to respond like you did.” Melody continued and Kurapika realized he wasn’t going to get a word in for a while.

“Because of that he’s afraid of losing what little relationship he had with you and losing the only thing he’s enjoyed for years.” Kurapika’s expression turned to a look of surprise. “Yeah, he’s loves the math team. And to top off his fear of losing it, he’s been forced to choose by his basketball team because they’re being selfish idiots as well.” Melody informed him and the look on Kurapika’s face, disappointment, pleased Melody.

“Leorio’s a senior, he has so many other things that could worry him right now, but he’s choosing to make it you and the team.” Melody appeared to be wrapping up her speech. “So quit being self-centered and apologize.” With that she turned and followed the team out toward the bus, leaving Kurapika to think about what she had said.

It was a lot to think about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: we meet Leorio's family!


	7. Realization and Inspiration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurapika takes some time to think about what Melody said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a very filler chapter. But it was fun to write, so enjoy!

Kurapika couldn’t think straight all day at school. Melody’s words rang in his mind and he thought about them the entire day. What if she was right? What if he was being selfish? Kurapika had never stopped to think about if he was being selfish or what it even looked like when he was. His mind was so out of it that when the time rolled around for math team to meet up, he told them all congratulations on the victory the previous day and then instructed them to go home. 

He needed some time to breath.

The entire team was okay with it, they were more than thrilled to take a celebratory day off. The next match in districts wasn’t going to be for another month or so, so they had plenty of time. Mr. Bernard supported the decision and Melody said she would tell Leorio and that Kurapika didn’t need to wait for her to walk home.

So he did.

The silence cleared his head and allowed for him to think about what had happened in the last week. So much had been dumped on him and yet, here he was, still going. He felt broken inside, like something wasn’t right but he couldn’t figure out quite what was wrong. As he walked, he thought about everything in the form of a list.

The first at the top was that Leorio had kissed him. This thought continued to anger him despite what Melody had said in his defense. Leorio had given him a warning. Kurapika agreed that the warning hadn’t been enough, that something like that shouldn’t happen. That was one selfish point for Leorio. 

The next was the day they spent with Melody. Leorio had been really good about pretending it had never happened. Occasionally he seemed to glance over at Kurapika, but he didn’t really say anything. But Kurapika’s mind had been taken over by the kiss since it had happened. He had a hard time thinking about Melody at all. One point for Kurapika.

While they were trying on clothes and Kurapika had finally forgotten about the whole thing, the fight between them had started. That should count as a selfish point each, he thought, recalling how the fight went to see if he could award Leorio an extra selfish point for starting the fight. He was about to mentally award Leorio that selfish point when he realized all Leorio had said was he should take off his sunglasses. It had been a simple suggestion and Kurapika could have easily said no calmly. Instead it pissed him off.

That was when the fight had started.

With a sigh, he awarded himself an extra selfish point for starting the fight. So it was three to two and now he was thinking back to the first districts meet. Leorio had seemed rather distant and out of it. He had still done exactly what the team had decided they would do, however, and Kurapika hadn’t. Solving the equations literally the entire team knew how to solve had seemed pointless to Kurapika. He hadn’t needed to waste his brain power on something so simple. And yet, Leorio had.

Awarding himself yet another selfish point his turned the corner onto his street and considered what else had happened that day. Leorio had completely missed the question he was supposed to answer. But he was out of it. Kurapika hesitated in giving him the point, especially after what Melody had told him. He had good reason to believe Leorio’s being distracted was for a good cause. Kurapika couldn’t give Leorio a point for being selfish at that moment because he didn’t know why Leorio had spaced out. So he skipped it.

Then he awarded himself a point for being selfish by starting the argument.

Now that he was level headed and thinking straight he realized snapping at Leorio about missing that one problem was selfish, he didn’t know why Leorio had spaced out. If he had, then maybe it would have been a justified accusation. But it wasn’t.

Entering his house he called out to the empty building and sighed deeply. He wasn’t going to be able to focus on his homework, so he mentally recorded what points he had tallied up and then headed downstairs. With a thud he dropped his bag to the floor and then trekked back up the creaky steps. Out the door he want, back into the early autumn air.

The walk had felt so good, he needed to walk some more. It cleared his head so well.

Where was he? Thinking back he remembered the fight. What exactly had been said? Kurapika had gotten mad at Leorio for not answering the question and then Leorio had accused him of not answering it. Or even attempting it. Kurapika had used the excuse of it being Leorio’s question to get him off of his back, but he knew that wasn’t true.

Kurapika didn’t know how to work those kinds of problems.

They were his single weak point, which was the entire reason he hadn’t taken his team passed districts the previous semester. They had won second place and Meteor City High had advanced to Nationals in the spring. His explanation to Leorio hadn’t necessarily been selfish, just a lie. He had been protecting his pride.

Kurapika’s thoughts froze and then he sighed, giving himself another selfish point.

Kurapika had then refused to answer Leorio and then called him selfish for running away. Melody had then informed him of his forced decision to choose between the math team and the basketball team. Kurapika awarded himself another selfish point and sighed. That was as far as they got. Certainly he could have gone back to when they first met and started awarding points, but the problems between them had honestly only started when Leorio had kissed him.

It was seven to two. 

Kurapika groaned audibly as he turned down a street, throwing his head back toward the cloudy sky and the grey clouds that threatened rain. How stupid and thick could he be? His stubborn nature blinded him to the most simplest of things. 

His life had always been his life and he had always been in control. Not even his foster parents could control them and that was why he was constantly changing houses. They couldn’t handle how stubborn and independent he was. No one could. Melody was the only person who could control them, and even she had some trouble with it now and then. But Leorio brought out the worst in him and Kurapika realized literally none of it was justified. 

He didn’t even know Leorio well enough to have a good reason to be so angry at him!

All Leorio had ever done was hit on him, kiss him, and join his math team. The kissing part was still something Kurapika still couldn’t get over and he knew was still a selfish point on Leorio’s side, but that was one of the two things he had been selfish about since the beginning of the weekend. 

Kurapika was far more stubborn, prideful and, as a result, selfish than Leorio. And it stung his pride to think about that. 

Still walking straight, he stared at the sky, his bangs still falling out of his face as he walked. He wished it would rain so that he could walk home, soaked to the bone. Something about being wet in the middle of fall seemed reasonable as punishment for what a jerk he had been. Before he even realized it, however, he heard a shout and his head snapped down right as he bumped into a small girl.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you there. Are you alright?” He asked, dropping down into a crouch to offer a hand to help her up. Without a hint of hesitation or pain, she snapped her head up to she was looking him right in the eyes. That look was extremely familiar, but he couldn’t seem to place it.

“I’m okay! You didn’t hurt me.” She said with a grin, taking his hand and standing up. At the level he was crouched at, he was looking her right in the eyes. That look of pure determination and unaltered pride stayed plastered to her face as she looked him in the eyes.

“Desi! I told you not to go out into the street!” The shout was from a much more mature voice coming from the house Kurapika was crouched next to. Both him and the girl before him turned their heads in time to watch as a boy came storming from the house, a defensive look on his face. He was clearly upset with her and yet, he looked more angry at Kurapika than her.

“Cater, I’m fine! This nice person asked if I was okay and I am! Promise!” She shouted, racing up to the boy named Cater, who crouched down to look her over and make sure she was right. When he realized she was, he stood back up, grabbing her hand, and turned toward Kurapika, who had risen back to his feet as well.

“I apologize. I wasn’t paying any attention.” Kurapika offered, hoping it was okay and that this boy wouldn’t decide to attack him just for running into his little sister. Cater looked him over once and then shrugged, the defensive older brother front dropping pretty quickly.

“It’s okay. She wasn’t either.” With this comment, Desi huffed, letting go of Cater’s hand and crossing her arms in a pout. Kurapika couldn’t help but smile at this show of independence and pride. These actions seemed almost familiar to him, but he couldn’t place why.

“Do you go to one of the middle schools nearby? I haven’t seen you around before.” The boy asked and Kurapika decided it was his turn to take on a defensive stance. Mimicking Desi’s slightly, he crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes toward Cater.

“I go to Yorknew High School, thank you very much.” It wasn’t the first time someone had mistaken him for a middle schooler because of his height, but it very much offended him that even a middle school student thought he went to middle school. Kurapika thought for sure he would recognize that Kurapika was older. Instead of raising an eyebrow and asking ‘really’ like most people did, Cater’s eyes lit up.

“My older brother goes to Yorknew. Do you know Leorio Paladinight?” He asked, eyes alight as he inquired after Kurapika. 

The small high schooler froze.

These were Leorio’s siblings? Looking down at the still pouting Desi he realized why the determined look in her eyes was familiar. It was the same one Leorio gave him every time he told Kurapika he was going to win. It was a defensive sort of pride very few had the confidence to boast, and it seemed it ran in the family.

“Um, yeah. I know him.” Kurapika responded, figuring it was probably best not to lie. This caused Cater to grin and Kurapika saw Leorio in that expression as well. The younger boy was almost a spitting image of his older brother and Kurapika wondered how on Earth he didn’t see it earlier. Maybe he was distracted. But his short black hair stood out in a similar manner to Leorio’s and his eyes were narrow and thin, giving the boy a graceful appearance. The biggest difference was a lack of glasses and the fact that he had freckles. 

“Hey, guys. What’s going on here?” There was a new voice from the entrance to the house and Kurapika snapped his head toward the direction it was coming from and found an older woman standing in the doorway. She had long, brown hair that curled at the bottom. It was tied back into a ponytail, so the attention was drawn to her thin, narrow eyes and bright eye color. She wore glasses perched on the bridge of her nose, which she looked over as she spoke.

“Mom, this guy knows Leorio!” Cater exclaimed, pointing at Kurapika as he said it. Kurapika felt himself getting dragged into a trap as the woman’s face lit up in surprise. She gave him a once over and then grinned.

“You must be one of his math team friends. Why don’t you come in for a while? Since practice was cancelled, Leorio’s staying at the full basketball practice today.” The woman explained, gesturing for Kurapika to come. The way she did it and the fact that she left no room for him to speak a refusal caught him up and he found himself crossing the grass behind Cater and Desi to head inside.

“Thank you for inviting me in.” He said as he stepped over the threshold. Instantly he was hit with a medley of noise. There was a TV playing in the living room to his left where two Paladinights sat on the couch watching. They both looked younger than Desi, and barely old enough to walk. Above him, in a room his couldn’t see he heard banging and shouting, but it was playful and filled with laughter. There had to be at least three kids up there.

The sound of a timer was going off in the kitchen to his left, as Mrs. Paladinight beelined toward the oven to take whatever was in there out. 

“Please, have seat. Would you like some water?” She asked, pulling the food out of the oven and setting it down on the stove. Desi nuzzled her way in front of her mother to look at what was on the tray, and Mrs. Paladinight expertly pushed her out of the way, much to the protests of her daughter.

“Oh, uh, thank you. I would appreciate that.” Kurapika responded, looking around the house as if lost in a whole different world. He almost didn’t think about how bad he felt making her get water for him as he looked over the solid, silver fridge with paintings and drawings plastered onto it using magnets that colorfully spelled silly words and goofy sentences. There were pictures of her kids from their school picture days and Kurapika counted eight, including Leorio. 

The two kids in the living room looked to be not even a year and just barely a year. One sat on the couch with a blanket in one hand and his thumb in his mouth. The other wore a pink, flower headband and sat in her highchair, cheerios scattered across the tray. Some child’s show played on the screen as the characters sang about the letter T and asked the children to help them figure out how it worked.

Desi had abandoned the kitchen and attempting to see what her mother was doing to trek noisily up the stairs to where, Kurapika assumed, the other three Paladinights were. They were still making noise, but it had gotten quieter, as if they were almost whispering, but not being very good at it.

Cater took a seat at the island in the kitchen where a thick textbook and a notebook sat before a stool. It looked like math homework to Kurapika, and his notebook was filled with smudged lead and scribbled out notes. 

“Make yourself at home.” Mrs. Paladinight interrupted his observations by setting the glass of water on the stool next to where he was sitting and offering for him to take a seat. Kurapika slid into the stool, wary of the extreme hospitality which she offered. Never before had Kurapika been in a place that housed so much noise and yet so much love. It was almost overwhelming. 

As he sat, he stared at the glass before him. Cracking a grin, he observed the playfully bright blue color of the glass, realizing it was actually a plastic kids’ cup with the cartoony face of a character stickered onto it. It was old and well used, as parts of the sticker as begun to come off and it was difficult to read the words below its smile.

“Sorry about the cup. I haven’t had the chance to do dishes yet.” Mrs. Paladinight apologized and Kurapika looked up, laughing a little as he did.

“It’s not a problem.” He responded, taking a sip of the cold tap water and looking sidelong at Cater’s homework. The boy appeared to be struggling a little bit, but he didn’t look up from what he was doing. Kurapika glanced before him to the sink where dishes piled high. He put down the cup. “You know what, I can do the dishes for you.” Kurapika offered, standing and heading toward the dishwasher, which was almost filled to the brim with clean dishes from a load finished earlier.

“Oh, you don’t have to do that. It’s Leorio’s job this week, anyway. Don’t want to encourage him to drop his chores.” She said with a laugh, turning back to her work at the stove where she stirred a pot beside the tray of food she had taken out only moments ago.

“He’s at basketball practice, right? He won’t get home until later. Plus, I don’t think one day is enough to make him think he can get away with not doing it.” Kurapika said, beginning to unload the clean dishes and sorting them into piles on the island where Cater’s things weren’t sitting. Mrs. Paladinight laughed.

“You’re right. Leorio would never do that.” She responded with a grin. “Thank you very much. Cater can tell you where everything goes.” She added on and Cater looked up when he heard his name. He noticed the dishes sitting before him on the island and smiled up at Kurapika. 

“Cups are in that cupboard along with plates and bowls.” Cater offered, pointing toward the cupboard he meant. Kurapika opened up one side to find bowls and plates stacked along the bottom two shelves and the cups stacked on the next two shelves up. Looking above himself he sighed, realizing he maybe should leave something to Leorio. But, with a determined groan, he stood on the very tips of his toes and pushed the cups onto the proper shelves. Glasses were higher up, so he had to use the counter to assist him in reaching it.

“Pans and lids go in that drawer there.” Cater pointed out when Kurapika had finished putting bowls, plates, and cups away. Opening the drawer he noticed the extremely jumbled and shuffled pans that filled the drawer to the top. Crouching down he removed a few and shuffled everything around so the biggest pans were on the bottom and the smallest on the top. He then placed the lids on top in reverse order and slid the drawer shut without an issue. 

At this point, Cater was more than willing to watch and instruct. He had already seemed to enjoy the fact that Kurapika was helping out, but now he was more involved in Kurapika’s attempts at organizing and putting things away. He would even offer tips if Kurapika was having a harder time figuring out how things would fit together.

Once all the dishes were put away, Kurapika began to load the dirty ones from the sink into the dishwasher. It was no small talk open season.

“So, you and Leorio are on the math team together?” Mrs. Paladinight asked, leaning against the stove a bit as her pot boiled steadily. Kurapika felt himself stiffen slightly as the topic moved to her eldest son.

“Yeah.” Kurapika responded, not finding any way he could expand on this further. Naturally, his yeah was thoroughly analyzed by Mrs. Paladinight, who came up with another question to ask.

“Did you meet him on the team?” She asked, tilting her head curiously as she asked. Kurapika thought back to the beginning of the school year near the end of September when Leorio showed up out of nowhere and dropped into the team, challenging him and embarrassing him in front of his entire team.

“Um, well, Mr. Bernard asked him to fill in a spot for the preliminary trials and then he just decided he wanted to stay.” Kurapika filled in the information as vaguely as possible, leaving out the part about how much Kurapika had hated Leorio’s smug look after the preliminaries.

“He told me that part. When did you first talk to him, though?” And there it was, the specific question he couldn’t avoid. For a moment Kurapika paused in loading the dishwasher and thought about how he might phrase the question without offending the woman. He had told Leorio straight out that he didn’t want him on his team and that he looked too dumb to even participate.

Then he had proceeded to lose in the competition Leorio had thought up.

“Um, well, I’m actually the captain of the team and Mr. Bernard introduced him on the night of the preliminaries.” There was a snort from the stools on the opposite side of the island and Mrs. Paladinight whipped Cater with the towel from the stove as Kurapika turned to look at him. With a creased brow and a confused expression, Kurapika turned to Mrs. Paladinight for an explanation. She laughed nervously.

“Leorio talks about you. A lot.” She said, and Kurapika felt himself heat up at the idea that this family already knows how much of a jerk he had been to Leorio since they first met. He turned back to the sink as he felt himself redden at the fact that they knew him better than he knew them. Oh gosh, what did they think of him?

“It’s alright. Leorio doesn’t like to talk bad about people. He tells unbiased facts when he talks about people. If it sounds rude to us, than it’s entirely our opinions.” Mrs. Paladinight said, coming up beside Kurapika and placing a warm hand on his back. It felt so reassuring.

“Of course, I think you’re a jerk to him.” Cater said from the island and Mrs. Paladinight instantly whipped the towel out again. “Ow, geez, I’m kidding. You’re a great person. I mean, you just did the dishes for him.” Cater said, laughing slightly as his mother pretended to whip at him a second and a third time. 

Glancing down at the dishwasher, Kurapika noticed that it was completely full. There were a few pots still in the sink, but otherwise the dishes were done. Kurapika smiled, feeling just a little bit better about the thoughts that had been racing through his head most of the day. He hoped Leorio wouldn’t be too weirded out that Kurapika had not only met his family, but also did the dishes for him.

“I imagine life is just a little tougher for you. We all have our days.” Mrs. Paladinight commented, turning back to the stove and tucking the towel into the handle. Kurapika looked at her back, tracing the long curls and waves in her hair as he thought about what she said. Wait, had Leorio said anything?

“Did Leorio tell you guys…everything?” Kurapika asked, hesitating slightly, afraid that Leorio had included every detail he knew about Kurapika’s life. It was more than most people knew because Kurapika refused to tell most people about being a foster child or how he came to be that way. Mrs. Paladinight didn’t turn around as she responded.

“If you tell Leorio something in secrecy, he’s not going to tell us. He knows it’s not his secret to tell.” Kurapika felt a little reassured by her response, not sure if he had mentioned his being a foster child or not. All he knew from Melody was that Leorio had been told the basics of the situation. Maybe Melody had told Leorio not to tell anyone? 

As he was thinking, Cater’s phone vibrated on the hard counter tops and the younger boy picked it up. 

“Ah, mom, Leorio says he’s on his way home.” He informed his mother and Kurapika froze. Crap, he was at Leorio’s house, talking with Leorio’s family, and Leorio was on his way home. Kurapika wasn’t ready to sort things out with the older teen and he wasn’t even sure how he wanted to go about doing it. Crap, he had to get out of there.

“Good! Kurapika, why don’t you join us for dinner?” Mrs. Paladinight offered and Kurapika was already taking the final sip of water from the cup he had been given a while ago.

“I’m sure M-my parents are wondering where I am. I should be getting back.” Kurapika informed her, stuttering when he almost said ‘Marta and Allin’ instead of parents. He was glad he caught it, he wasn’t sure how to tell anyone about his situation, even if she was a kind woman like Mrs. Paladinight was. 

“Oh, well, that makes sense. Have a safe walk home. Don’t get lost. Come by again sometime, it sure was nice having you!” She called and Kurapika waved as he headed toward the door. He opened it and headed out, letting it shut gently behind him. Trotting down the front lawn he hoped desperately that Leorio didn’t drive this direction on his way home. Quickly Kurapika found familiar landmarks and, before long, was back in his own familiar neighborhood.

The lights were on in the living room when he got back and he sighed. The empty, lonely silence of his house still lingered, even after Marta and Allin got home. They’d eat dinner together, talk small talk, and then head to bed.

As he approached his front door he realized how wonderful the Paladinight household had been. Opening the door he decided he would do the dishes after dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: Roses


	8. Roses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurapika finally confronts Leorio.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Fluff and cheesy romance movie garbage! Haha, I've been looking forward to this chapter.

The room was silent when Kurapika walked in. Most of the math team was already there, including Leorio, and they were all surprised when Kurapika walked in late. He held a duffle bag over his left shoulder and set it down extremely carefully when he reached the front of the room.

“Nice of you to join us.” Mr. Bernard commented, watching with the rest of the room as Kurapika approached the front of the class and took the spot he usually took at the head of the room. For a moment, there was silence. Everyone waited in anticipation for what Kurapika would say, Leorio more than the rest of the team. After what his mom had told him yesterday, he wanted to know if Kurapika had changed. 

Part of Leorio wanted the petite captain to change, to be different from before. Another part of Leorio, however, hoped Kurapika hadn’t and that he was the same, stubborn person he was only a couple of days ago. 

“We won our first match.” Kurapika started, not looking up from where he was staring at the table before him. The rest of the room gave out weak, half-hearted whoops and cheers in response, not sure what the mood in the air was. “But we still have much to improve upon.” Kurapika added, looking up and scanning the room, eyes resting on Leorio. The look in his eyes wasn’t anger, like Leorio expected, but something completely foreign that the tall senior couldn’t place.

“But, I was thinking, how about we practice in the garden today?” Kurapika offered, turning his gaze back to the rest of the math team. The entire room lightened up in surprise, having expected Kurapika to hit hard on the fact that they had only won by a few points and that they needed to improve a lot more. Instead, he appeared relaxed and had offered they study in the gardens, a location known well for its ability to distract students.

After returning home, Kurapika had thought about the situation at hand. Leorio had a lot on his plate, though Kurapika was barely different. The biggest difference between the amount on their respective plates was that Leorio was graduating in a few months and Kurapika had a couple of years left to go. 

It would be difficult, accepting Leorio and becoming less stubborn, but Kurapika figured he could accomplish this task with some work and a lot of support. He had Melody and Leorio behind him, after all. 

“I think that’s a great idea.” Mr. Bernard agreed before instructing the class to head outside toward the garden. The entire team grabbed their things and headed in the direction of the small area where the school grew flowers and foods, everything open to the community. They whispered among themselves, avoiding standing anywhere near Kurapika. 

It appeared they were talking about him. Someone beside Leorio appeared to be talking to the tall senior, but he wasn’t paying any attention. Instead, he would glance backward occasionally to find Kurapika walking beside Melody, the smaller sophomore talking to Kurapika with interest. Leorio, too, was interested to know what was running through the blonde’s mind.

The garden wasn’t anything to boast about. It was placed awkwardly between four buildings in a location that used to flood every rainy season. The school used to call it Lake Yorknew because of its size and the impossibility of crossing over it. After the garden had been built the lake had stopped showing up every time it rained. 

The act of crossing the gardens was possible to cut through the courtyard, providing some mobility in the rainy season, but it was a little more difficult than when there hadn’t been anything there. However, the students at Yorknew High didn’t seem to mind it.

The flowers were starting to die and the plants were beginning to wilt. The oncoming cold of the October weather was starting to get to the plants and it was obvious to the students as they all found benches to sit on or places to stand.

Kurapika broke off from Melody to cross a side area filled with gravel. The ground may have been leveled out, but it hadn’t all been repaved. 

The area was covered in square and rectangular planters that filled in the square area they had been provided with. Each planter held dirt to an inch below the brim and had at least a few dying plants and weeds attempting to eat them up. Eventually the caretakers would come through and clean out what was left, turning the dirt over to ready the planters for planting season. It was really a lovely place when everything was growing.

In the fall and winter, it kind of got depressing. 

However, it was lively and welcoming that sunny, October afternoon as Kurapika stopped in the middle of the garden to stand before the group of students he was in charge of. 

“Alright, so, we won!” He started, this time receiving an enthusiastic cheer from the entire group. Grinning at this he continued on. “Today, I think we can all agree, doesn’t have to be so intense. Go ahead and review the questions you remember from the match. Figure out what you did wrong, correct the mistakes, try and remember this. Do whatever you think you need to in order to improve. You’re all free to leave whenever you would like. Tomorrow, however, we will get down to the small details. We can’t waste too much time.” Kurapika said earning a small laugh from a few of the team members.

When he waved his hand, everyone broke off into small groups and partners to cross check notes and ideas about what to improve on. Kurapika watched with a small smile on his face as the group conversed, their eyes alight with new determination. This was what they needed, some relaxing time to think. Back to back, intense meetings were straining their thought processes. Kurapika sighed, realizing that Leorio was probably the better captain for this team.

Speaking of the tall, gangly senior. Kurapika looked up to find Leorio leaning down to hear what Melody was whispering to him. When the dark haired teen looked up his eyes met Kurapika’s. Taking his cue, Kurapika turned to walk away, grabbing his duffle bag and heading around the corner of one of the nearby buildings. When he finally stopped and put down the bag, he heard the sound of tapping feet approaching above the sound of chatter from the math team.

“Kurapika, listen. I’m really sorry for what happened at the competition. I was being stupid. I need to stop thinking about myself every once in a while.” Leorio said, not even completely still before his mouth began to rant about whatever it was.

It was kind of adorable.

Kurapika reached down toward the duffle bag, not even listening to what Leorio said as he continued. “I’ve been a little selfish and not thinking straight. Although, I guess I could say the same about you. But, I don’t want to be rude! I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes on your side, so I don’t want to sound accusatory.” Leorio continued as Kurapika straightened out.

“Leorio.” He said, looking up to see that the tall senior wasn’t even looking down at him, his eyes wandering here and there above Kurapika’s head, face red with clear embarrassment. Adorable.

“I just, want to apologize for everything I’ve troubled you with. But I don’t want to lose the math team, they’re very important to me-“ 

“Leorio.” 

“And you’re very important to me! I’m still very sorry about the kiss. It was a stupid move, I know. I should have given you further warning, but I didn’t. Simply telling you I make a move when I knew someone’s gay wasn’t nearly enough-“

“Leorio.”

“But you said you were afraid of coming out and all I heard was ‘coming out’ and I jumped! That was horribly inconsiderate of me. You’re afraid of coming out, obviously kissing a guy wasn’t the right move to make next-“

“Leorio.” Kurapika was starting to lose his patience.

“And then I was so distracted by you during the match that I didn’t even answer the question I was tasked to answer. Man, that was a stupid move-“

“Leorio! Will you just shut up and listen to me?” Kurapika had finally had enough of the senior’s mindless rambling. The shout shocked the tall, dark haired teen, who looked down as Kurapika to show this surprise, only to turn a dark shade of red at what he saw.

“I’ve been far more stupid than you have, Leorio. Sure, the move you made was rash and thoughtless, but I knew there had to be something coming when I said that.” Kurapika started, not looking Leorio in the eyes as he began his own spiel, planned out word for word the night before. 

“I live in foster care, have my whole life. I watched my entire family get killed right before my eyes. I’ve been determined to graduate at the top of my class and get so many scholarships, I would have money left over. I was going to make it out of here, no strings attached. But you? You had to come along and barge in, guns blazing.” Kurapika chuckled lightly, still avoiding Leorio and, instead, looking down at what was in his hands.

“You’re rash and careless, that much is true. But thoughtless? Leorio, you have more thoughts running through your head than I do!” Kurapika laughed loudly, chancing a look up at Leorio and regretting it immediately. There were traces of tears at the corners of his eyes and his face was red, mouth agape in shock. Looking away quickly, Kurapika blinked away the tears that threatened to pour from his eyes as well.

“You…you think about school, basketball, math team, your friends, your family, what you have ahead of you, and so much more! All I think about is school and what I have ahead of you. Occasionally I think about math team because it will look good on my applications, sometimes Melody crosses my mind. But you? Gosh, sometimes I think you care too much.” Kurapika laughed, nervous energy coursing through his body. 

That was all Kurapika had planned to say. What else needed to be said? Leorio was selfless and occasionally selfish, but Kurapika had been the bigger jerk the whole time and it hadn’t even crossed his mind. He was glad he finally got it out of his system, because he wasn’t sure how long he would have been able to hold it in.

There came sniffling from above him.

Kurapika chance a look at Leorio to find he was red in the face, with tears slowing streaking down his cheeks. There was giant, face splitting grin cracking his face nearly in half and making him look like a blubbering baby. He was an ugly crier.

But that was adorable.

“Um, so, I got these roses. As apology.” Kurapika ad libbed, figuring Leorio could just take them and then they could resume the meeting as normal. They both had work to do, Kurapika more than Leorio. He had to drop his stubborn pride and ask Leorio for help on the problems he didn’t know how to solve. Since those were the ones that always got them in his previous year when they had almost managed to reach State.

Holding out the roses, Kurapika felt Leorio’s hands wrap around the plastic he had tied around them, to keep the thorns from pricking Leorio when he held them. The tall senior managed a sniffled thanks as he grabbed them, fingers brushing Kurapika’s hands gently. He looked down into them and grinned as realization struck on his face.

“These are from your house.” Leorio said, and Kurapika nodded, not looking back up and just shrugging. Leorio gasped and set the flowers down on the ground gently, catching Kurapika’s attention. Why would he put the flowers down? What was he going to do? In the split moment it took Leorio to set down the flowers, the petite blonde panicked, not sure what to do or how to react.

Until Leorio grabbed his hands.

“You picked them yourself?” Leorio asked, pulling up Kurapika’s sleeves to reveal the bandages freckling his fingers and palms. Sheepishly, Kurapika nodded. 

“The bush needed a trim, anyway.” He muttered, not looking up at Leorio as he said it. Leorio turned over Kurapika’s bandaged fingers, rubbing gently against the reddest, sorest looking spots. It hurt, but Kurapika endured it.

“You don’t have gardening gloves at your house?” Leorio asked, kicking himself immediately for asking such a stupid question. The front lawn was a mess, of course they didn’t have gardening gloves. If they did, the lawn would probably look better.

“No.” Kurapika responded, confirming Leorio’s suspicions. A small ‘tsk’ escaped Leorio’s mouth as he dropped Kurapika’s hands and grabbed his chin instead, lifting his face upward gently. Kurapika looked into Leorio’s dark eyes, wondering what he was going to do next. 

“So, what does this mean?” Leorio asked, dropping his hand from Kurapika’s chin when he was satisfied that the smaller teen wouldn’t look away. Kurapika hadn’t thought passed what would happen after he apologized to Leorio. He figured they would walk away and become friends again. Kicking himself, he thought about what he should have considered. 

Leorio liked him because he was attractive. Obviously he would continue to pursue Kurapika, even if he told him not to. What was he supposed to do? Shrugging, he finally formulated some words to say.

“Well, I don’t think I can consider you more than a friend. You only like me for my looks, after all.” Some people liked to call Kurapika a girl not only for his appearance, but for his personality. In another life, he was probably actually a girl. Traditional and not so traditional values of his worth flowed through his veins and he was determined to be treated the way he wanted to be treated.

“I don’t only like you for your looks.” Leorio said and Kurapika made a face. That couldn’t be true. Leorio had first approached him because he was cute. He had tried flirting with him the instant they had met. Then he had called him attractive in front of his best friend. Leorio let a small laugh escape his lips.

“You’re too darn stubborn, Kurapika. But you’re actually much nicer than you make yourself out to be. You’re determined to do well. You’re empowered to be exactly who you want to be and do exactly what you want to do. I thought I was into the submissive, meek type. But gosh dangit, Kurapika, you are so much hotter because of your stubbornness.” Leorio explained and Kurapika felt his face heating up. 

“You like me because I’m stubborn?” Kurapika asked, finding himself receiving mixed messages. Hadn’t Leorio told him to stop being so stubborn? Or was that Melody? The small blonde looked away out of confusion, wracking his brain for the exact person who had told him he was stubborn and needed to quit it. 

“Yeah! You’re stubborn and it is so frustrating! But I realized that frustration was actually lo-uh, um, my liking you.” Kurapika’s head snapped up when Leorio’s momentum slipped out from under him suddenly. Did he almost just say ‘love’? He very nearly had told Kurapika he loved him. The smaller high schooler felt himself reflect the expression and the shade of red on Leorio’s face. 

“Ah…eh, th-then maybe that’s what I’m f-feeling when I want to punch you in the face?” Kurapika phrased it a lot like a question, looking up at Leorio hesitantly as he did so. When he saw the look of pure shock on Leorio’s face, he felt like he had overstepped it. Why did Leorio look so shocked? He had almost confessed love for Kurapika, shouldn’t he be ecstatic that Kurapika was basically doing the same in return?

Than Leorio laughed.

It was a big, hearty, joyous laugh that filled Kurapika with a deep feeling of calm and bubbly excitement. It rumbled through the air and then through Kurapika’s body as Leorio scooped him up by the waist and spun him in several circles. The contagious sound and enthusiastic action caused Kurapika to join in the laughter, his voice ringing like a light bell on a lazy summer afternoon. 

The wind whipped through Kurapika’s hair as Leorio turned and, when he stopped, his hair settled awkwardly across his eyes, obscuring the joyful grin on Leorio’s face from view. For some reason, Kurapika was out of breath. Was this love? He didn’t want to call it love, that sounded too strong. But was this pure feeling of happiness and joy something similar? 

Kurapika couldn’t place this feeling, but he liked it and he wanted more. He felt high on life, high on Leorio’s energy, high on his own happiness. 

Leorio brushed his bangs from his face, great big grin settling into a content, snarky smile as he did so. Kurapika panted lightly, bubbly laughter still playing off of his lips lightly. 

“Does this make you my boyfriend?” Leorio asked and a sensation akin to an electric shock coursed through Kurapika’s body, exiting through his fingers and toes. Boyfriend? How long ago had Kurapika realized he was gay and now he was hearing someone ask to be his boyfriend?

“I…I don’t know. Maybe?” Kurapika’s voice was shaky from the energy he felt and the fear that simultaneously manifested itself inside of him. Leorio must have realized this because he set Kurapika down gently and rested his hands on the small of his back, pulling him close into his body and looking down into his eyes.

“We don’t have to use that word, if it makes you uncomfortable. But I’d like to be something like that, if you don’t mind?” Leorio said, looking down at Kurapika as the smaller teen searched the darker eyes of Leorio above him. Did he mind? He felt so happy when Leorio was with him, yet so annoyed and angry. It was, oddly, something he looked forward to every day. Leorio made him feel welcome and, now that he was opening up more, so did Melody. Maybe life could be more than moving and school? 

“No, I don’t mind. Not at all.” Kurapika responded, mouth opening into a breathless grin as Leorio mirrored him after the response had registered. Leorio, laughing again, lifted Kurapika once more and planted a firm, yet gentle, kiss on the smaller boy’s lips. 

It took Kurapika by surprise for a second. His second kiss was the same guy, but a completely different situation. After a second, Kurapika accepted the kiss, attempting what he hoped was the correct response. 

When Leorio finally pulled away they looked into each others’ eyes, foreheads resting together. Leorio was absently humming something as he looked into Kurapika’s eyes, pupils moving about as if searching for him.

“Your eyes are red.” He finally said, taking Kurapika by surprise. Instinctively he reached his hand toward his face, fingers resting on his cheek. He knew Leorio was the only one who could see through his contacts, but it still came as a surprise when he pointed it out. 

For a moment they stood there, Kurapika in Leorio’s arms, Leorio holding him with little effort. It was cheesy, and stupid, and they would both regret the scene later, but they were so completely happy that it didn’t matter. 

Until Kurapika heard his name being called.

“Hey, Kurapika! I was wondering if you could help me figure out this one equation!” Came the shout. It wasn’t Melody, that was for sure, and from the sounds of the footsteps approaching, they were coming at a jog.

Very unceremoniously, Leorio dropped Kurapika to the ground and grabbed the roses from where he had left them. Quickly, Kurapika snatched his duffle bag from the ground and zipped it up, fluffing it out to appear as if it still held whatever it was inside. 

Leorio held the flowers behind his back and leaned against the wall where Kurapika had propped himself, standing side by side as if they had been comparing notes.

Right as the source of the voice came around the corner. 

“Oh, unless you and Leorio are busy. I don’t want to interrupt your studying.” He said, stopping with his hand around the corner, pressed against the wall as if he had been using it as momentum to swing himself around the wall. 

“Oh, no, we were just finishing up.” Kurapika said, looking up as if shocked to have even heard someone talking to him. Leorio watched as he calmly asked the boy what he needed help with and then disappeared around the corner to assist him and the others he had been working with. 

After a few minutes of staring at the spot where Kurapika had disappeared, Leorio trailed aimlessly out toward the garden to find the group still working where they had been before. Melody was talking to Mr. B about something and Kurapika was surrounded by a group of three freshmen, all listening to him intently. 

The way he smiled and nodded when they understood was so gentle and soft. Leorio sighed, not even realizing the way he was staring or the fact that Melody had come up beside him while he was doing it.

“I didn’t expect roses.” Melody said, grabbing behind Leorio to take the roses from his hands. Jumping nearly a foot in the air, Leorio turned on her as she swung them up to sniff them, sighing after the action. 

“Heh, well, neither did I.” Leorio commented, finally resurfacing from the fright Melody had given him. If he was being completely honest, he hadn’t expected any of what he had gotten. Whatever had just happened, Leorio was more than happy to replay it in his head. Was it possible to feel like dying from pure happiness? Leorio was sure he was ready to keel over from that exact cause of death.

“So, how are you going to tell Pietro?” And with one question, Melody brought him back down to Earth with a heavy thud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to stop updating this one until I have all the chapters written. It's okay, there are only four left! There isn't too much plot left just dealing with Pietro and the basketball gang. If I'm actually consistent about writing, it'll take two weeks. If I'm anything like I have been, it may take a month.


	9. Return to the Court

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leorio finally talks to Pietro about the math team. Pietro doesn't take it very lightly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty, on the last stretch!

Leorio was riding high on cloud nine. Could there possibly be a cloud higher up than nine? Happiness couldn’t simply be measured, could it? Leorio wasn’t sure where he was, but he knew he was one of the happiest people alive and it embarrassed Kurapika whenever he brought it up. Which was frequently. Leorio was happy, though, and it was Kurapika that made him that way.

However, there were still a few issues to resolve and Leorio knew it wouldn’t be easy. It had been almost a week since Pietro had insisted Leorio choose between the math team and the basketball team. Leorio was going to need to answer Pietro soon or the whole team was going to boot him without consent. Their coach had no problem with it, but in-team fighting wasn’t good for their teamwork.

So Leorio was going to fix it.

“Don’t worry about coming to every practice, alright? I don’t want you to ruin your relationship with your other team. Plus, you’ve got everything down better than I do, so you have more freedom than I do.” Kurapika informed him, earlier that afternoon while sitting at lunch. Leorio knew his boyfriend could be a kind person, but that was beyond what he had expected. 

“I do require you to show up for the three consecutive days before a match, though.” Kurapika added on, looking back up at Leorio as he said this. Good, there was a catch. Leorio would have felt really bad getting free reign to never show up again. He knew that wouldn’t have been the case, now he had a catch that required him to show up often enough he wouldn’t feel guilty.

“Thanks, Pika. I need to sort out some things with Pietro today, so I guess this is my first skip.” Leorio responded, grinning like a crazy man, nerves working overtime as he considered what he was going to say to Pietro. 

“Good. I don’t want to hold you back from everyone you care about.” Kurapika said with a small smile, looking away from Leorio as he said this. It was cute, the way he insisted he not be sappy. Kurapika was tough as nails, but when it got down to it, he was one of the sweetest people Leorio had met.

“Thank you. I’m so glad I met you.” Leorio said then, leaning forward and pulling Kurapika’s face toward his own to give him a small kiss. The entire school had been abuzz about the two since they had arrived.

The previous day, after Kurapika had finally admitted to wanting to try something with Leorio, they’d gone over to the Paladinight household and Leorio had excitedly introduced Kurapika as his boyfriend. The entire family and cooed and teased and Kurapika had felt like an animal on display. But they had been very kind and even offered to let him stay for dinner. 

In attempts to not worry Marta or Allin, he declined. Instead, Leorio dragged him off and gave him some old clothes from when he had been younger. He’d said he was going to give them to Cater, but that they would look good on Kurapika.

So he had worn them to school. Not only was the school abuzz about the math team captain looking like one of the popular kids, he was walking hand in hand with Leorio most of the time they were together, and the school was dying to know what had happened. 

Naturally, Pietro already knew by the time Leorio arrived at the basketball court that afternoon. After the whole school had seen it, Pietro had denied his best friend would go behind his back like that, but someone had taken pictures and there he was, Leorio bent almost completely in half just to lean down and give Kurapika a kiss. 

Pietro was furious.

“Hey, guys! I’ve been given free rein to skip as many math team meetings as I want for basketball, so I’m all yours! Although, I will be missing out for three days before the next districts match, but you can handle that.” Leorio called down to his teammates as he entered the gym, a couple of minutes late.

Everyone was already dressed in their practice clothes, standing around where Pietro sat on the bleachers. The co-captain must have been talking to them. Leorio hoped this wouldn’t turn out too bad.

“Who is that, guys? I don’t think I recognize him.” Pietro grumbled as the group split in half so Pietro could watch Leorio approach them. Despite being completely dressed up for practice, Pietro didn’t look like he was going to move from his spot any time soon.

“Don’t be cold, Pietro. It’s not like I haven’t been here.” Leorio said, hoping to defend himself without starting a fight. He knew all too well that Pietro was trying to provoke him into fighting, he liked to do that when he was angry about something. But Leorio wasn’t going to let him.

“Yeah, well, it’s almost like you don’t exist anymore.” Pietro shot back, crossing his arms over his chest and readjusting his sitting position to face Leorio more head on. Despite not talking a lot with Pietro one on one, he still spent every day with the team for at least twenty minutes before heading off to the math team meetings. He had watched as Pietro slowly began to deteriorate, but that didn’t stop his best friend from being a jerk.

“I’m here every day.” Leorio defended, deciding to keep his statements short and to the point. If they didn’t fight, he wouldn’t worsen Pietro’s condition. He didn’t want to feel responsible for that kind of thing. 

“For barely twenty minutes.” Pietro snapped, standing up to his full height, which wasn’t much compared to Leorio. His legs didn’t seem to shake, so today was one of his better days. Leorio avoided looking like he was staring, but he was worried Pietro might overwork himself over this. It was silly. 

“C’mon, I still talk to you.” Leorio responded and he heard more than just Pietro scoff at that comment. When he looked around at the other members of the team, they all avoided making eye contact with him. Pietro was the only who looked straight at him when he spoke.

“You never talk to me. Or any of us. It’s all about that little math team captain of yours.” Pietro spat, eyes narrowing as he mentioned Kurapika. It was as if Kurapika was a disease, nothing more than a fungi growing in an unpleasant part of the forest. The way Pietro spoke about him set Leorio on edge and he couldn’t help but bristle a bit at the words he said.

“It’s not all about Kurapika, Pietro. I care about this team too.” Leorio growled, holding back from stepping any closer to the smaller teen. He didn’t want to do anything he would regret. He knew what he said was a little false, that he still talked to them, that it wasn’t all about Pika. He cared about the basketball team, though, that was true. 

“It’s not, huh? Then why was he wearing your old shirt today? And those jeans? I’d recognize them anywhere; they are the ones I got you for your twelfth birthday.” Pietro hissed and Leorio felt his blood freeze over. Those were the ones Pietro had gotten him? How could he have forgotten that year? His family had little money and Leorio was shooting up rapidly. Pietro had gotten him jeans for his birthday instead of the cool toy he had been wanting. That was when Leorio had known he had a true friend. 

Now Kurapika was wearing them. 

“I was going to give them to Cater. You would have been fine with that, I know you too well.” Leorio started, watching Pietro’s face carefully and noticing him tense up. He was right, just telling Pietro they were going to be Cater’s made him angrier. “Does that make Kurapika your enemy, Pietro? Because I don’t want him to be. You guys would get along.” It was true. Both of them were stubborn and had so much they wanted to live for, but were being held back by something. For Pietro, it was his illness. For Kurapika, it was his past. 

“I highly doubt me and that nerd would even be able to hold a proper conversation.” Pietro hissed, clearly not even trying to see Leorio’s side of the argument. Nerd didn’t anger Leorio, he had heard the word too many times and had become desensitized to it. The negative connotation no longer held any meaning for him, but he enjoyed using it as an endearing term toward Kurapika.

“I swear, you guys are both stubborn. You’re both determined. You just have to give him a chance, Pietro.” Leorio protested, keeping his voice as calm and level as he could manage. He didn’t want to come off as desperate, but he was. He wanted so badly for these two worlds to fit together happily. How had he gotten himself into this mess?

“That tiny dork isn’t getting a chance from me, no way. He stole you away from me.” Pietro grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest again, taking a solid defensive stance. Leorio was at a loss. He couldn’t think of what else he might say that might change Pietro’s mind. He had been best friends with him since he could remember. What had gone so wrong?

“C’mon, he didn’t steal me away. I’m still here. I can still be here.” Leorio tried hard to keep the whine of desperation out of his voice. He didn’t want to seem weak, or desperate, or like a child. Was he selfish for wanting all of his friends to get along? To have a perfect world? He didn’t think he was. 

“You’re never here. You’re always off with him and that mousy friend of his. What did you do to get him to stick to you like that? Nail him?” Pietro snorted and the rest of the team coughed up nasty laughter along with him. Leorio felt his blood begin to boil. He hadn’t touched Kurapika in any way other than to hold hands or kiss him. But if he didn’t stop Pietro, he might tell the whole school otherwise.

“Of course not. I’ve been nothing but nice to the both of them. You don’t seem to understand what nice is, though.” Leorio growled, voice low and angry. Don’t break, don’t break, don’t break, he repeated in his head, trying very hard not to lash out and sock Pietro in the jaw. That would feel so good, but end so badly.

“Pfft, nice? What’s your definition of nice? A hand job? Maybe a couple of hickeys, I’m sure his nerd friends would be jealous of that. Perhaps you’ve actually stuck him already.” Pietro hissed, reveling in the laughter he was getting from his teammates and the redness rising into Leorio’s face. Don’t think about it, he insisted to himself, Kurapika isn’t like that, neither am I, just stop thinking about it. 

“You know what, if I wasn’t straight I would rather bang that instead of hanging out with my friends-“ He was cut off when Leorio’s fist hit his jaw. The blood boiling in his veins had taken complete control of the taller teen and Leorio was not about to let Pietro get away with talking about the both of them like that ever again. 

“Shut up! Stop talking about him like that! I’d never do that!” Leorio practically screamed as the rest of the basketball team backed away hastily, watching as Pietro tried to pick himself off the floor where he had fallen. His weak legs hadn’t been able to take the hit like a real man and had landed him on the floor. Now they couldn’t get him back up either. 

“Gosh, Leorio, you’re so serious. I was only joking.” Pietro muttered shakily, attempts at keeping his composure failing as he attempted to keep himself awake. There was a small cut on his lip from Leorio’s hit, but both of them knew there would be a horrible bruise there for a good week after it had time to settle.

“You do not joke about that! That is sick and perverted!” Leorio shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Pietro and attempting to not feel terrible about hitting him. He deserved it, right? Talking about Kurapika in that way. He deserved it.

“Leorio, look at who you’re talking to. I’m sick and weak. Girls are too afraid to have me because they think they might break me. I’ve got nothing for me but porn and masturbation. Perverted is my middle name.” Pietro spat, his attempts at sounding proud of this weak and faltering. He didn’t feel good about admitting it, Leorio knew this all too well. There had been many talks with Pietro in the past about how he wished he wasn’t weak, how he wished he wouldn’t give into it and instead think wholesomely about a healthy relationship.

“Stop pretending like you’re proud of that.” Leorio muttered, anger bubbling down a bit at his friends weakness. He wished Pietro could get better. He wished his family could afford the money to save him. But there was no chance of protecting Pietro or saving him, they didn’t have enough money to. 

Instead of remaining where he was, giving into his weak state like he had learned to do around Leorio, he glared up at him, pushing himself to his feet, taking a shaky step forward. It had been years since Pietro had given up pretending to be strong around Leorio. Why was he starting again now?

“You know what, I’m not pretending. I’m proud my best buddy is banging the prettiest kid on campus.” This earned yet another hard hit to the jaw as Leorio’s fist connected with Pietro’s face once more. This time, when Pietro went down, he didn’t even try to come back up. His breathing was weak and shaky and Leorio felt guilty for hitting him. For ever thinking he needed to resort to violence.

“What is going on here!?” There was a startled cry from the top of the bleachers where the doors to the gym were. When Leorio whipped around he felt his heart drop at the sight of his beautiful boyfriend standing above them all, face awash with panic and disappointment.

“Kurapika, I-“ But he couldn’t think of the words to say as Kurapika came racing down the stairs toward them, stopping just between Leorio and Pietro, facing the fallen teen with a look of concern. 

“I thought you said you were going to talk to him?” Kurapika hissed, turning to Leorio with the full force of his anger. Only it wasn’t full force, Leorio didn’t see his eyes turning red. Some part of Kurapika wasn’t angry that Leorio had punched him. 

“I was talking to him! But then he said some stupid things and…I…I overreacted.” Leorio mumbled, tucking his hands into his pockets and turning his face away from the group of people staring him down. Kurapika walked up to him and looked into his eyes, something the smaller teen found easier to do when Leorio was looking down.

“You want to be a doctor, Leorio. You know better than to hit a weak person.” Kurapika scolded, his expression softening when Leorio finally looked into his eyes. Leorio sighed, not able to stay angry when Kurapika looked at him like that.

“I’m sorry. I’ll try not to do it again.” Leorio muttered and Kurapika let out a small smile.

“You better not.” He muttered, pushing himself up onto his tiptoes and giving Leorio a small kiss. There came weak coughing and sputtering from behind them and then the sound of a dry cackle.

“Are we gonna get front row seats to the show? I’ve never witnessed porn live.” Pietro chuckled nastily. Leorio glared up at him from over Kurapika’s head, watching as he attempted to push himself into a seated position. 

With one swift movement, Kurapika turned around and slapped Pietro.

The sound of skin on skin contact rang out through the silent gym. For a moment, everyone stayed where they were, shocked at the action coming from such a small body. 

“Kurapika! What are you-“ Leorio started forward but stopped when Kurapika whipped around, eyes landing firmly on Leorio’s. This time, he could see the red coming from behind his contacts. 

“You two pigs are going to solve this. You are going to do it in a civil manner and you are going to do it soon.” Kurapika snapped, looking between the two of them as he spoke. With that, he whipped his head around, his body following after as he stormed up the stairs and out of the gym, leaving the group of teens alone to wallow in the silence and shock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next: Actual resolution to the Pietro issue


	10. Righting a Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leorio shows Pietro that he can have more friends than just the basketball team.

It had been nearly a week. Leorio had attended every basketball practice since the fight with Pietro and the team had gotten along with him well enough, but Pietro still insisted on avoiding him. Sometimes Pietro would ask them if they could just kick him off the team. But Leorio attended enough practice and was actually helping them improve. Some of what he got out of the math team worked on them as well. 

For the most part, Leorio and Pietro avoided each other. A lot of the time, Leorio simply thought up ways he could make up with his best friend. They had known each other since they were kids, there had to be a way. Many times Leorio thought about apologizing for hitting him. Pietro was weak and getting weaker and he wasn’t going to last very much longer, so Leorio knew he had to apologize. He felt extremely guilty for the whole thing. But he knew simply saying so wasn’t going to be enough for Pietro. 

The biggest downside to avoiding Pietro was that Kurapika was avoiding him. Sure, it wasn’t in the same manner as Pietro’s avoidance of him, but his new boyfriend suddenly refused any kisses, would only occasionally hold his hand, and kept bringing up Pietro when Leorio complained about not getting enough love. It was pure torture, motivating Leorio to think harder and faster.

Then the second match in districts came up. Leorio told the team it was happening and all of them, except Pietro, were alright with his missing the three practices before it. He attended math team meetings and got himself caught up on everyone’s progress. Which was a lot. Leorio had more backups than Kurapika on some of the more complex problems, now, but they weren’t nearly as fast as them. Kurapika finally understood the equations he had never been able to do, but Leorio was still faster and more accurate than him. 

Still, Leorio felt psyched up as the bus pulled to a stop before the school where they would be participating. It seemed none of the matches would be at Yorknew High, even if they won this one, they would be going to the school of the other winner. Which was likely going to be Meteor City, which is had been for years. 

The entire bus buzzed with pure, enthusiastic energy as the team stood to get off the bus. The last match had ended on a completely different note than it had started, but after the events of the last month, this match would hopefully end on a happy one.

Though, Leorio had been hoping to look forward to a celebratory kiss but that wasn’t going to happen. 

This school wasn’t a very large school and this time everyone was packed into the gym. A small stage was set up at the far end of the room where the judges sat at their table. Tables for the teams were set up in the same manner as the first match and people were already seated at the table designated for the other team. There were already people filing onto the bleachers to watch, this time it wasn’t only parents.

“Leorio! We’ve come to cheer you on.” Rather than enthusiasm and sincerity, the voice was filled with mockery and joking. Leorio groaned as he turned around to find Pietro and a couple of the other basketball team members.

Among the parents in the crowd were people from Yorknew High. They left very few blank spots in the bleachers, leaving a rather intimidating appearance compared to the other team’s bleachers. 

“Pietro, what are you really doing here?” Leorio asked, putting his hands in his pockets defensively as the rest of the team headed to the table and began organizing them into their seats. The faceoff between Leorio and Pietro didn’t go entirely unnoticed and attention was drawn from Kurapika and Melody.

“Can’t a friend come to cheer a friend on?” Pietro asked, mocking hurt in his tone as if this was actually how he felt. Leorio hated that his friend was talking to him like this. They had long ago agreed that neither of them would do anything to hurt the other. Leorio had broken that promise when he had punched Pietro, but Pietro had decided that meant he could hurt Leorio as well.

“Sure, but that’s not why you’re here.” Kurapika was the one to respond to Pietro first, coming up right beside Leorio and grabbing his hand, holding it tightly in both of his to show his support. Melody came up on his other side but just stood there, attempting to look intimidating. 

“What would you know about why I’m here?” Pietro spat, folding his arms over his chest and turning to look down at Kurapika. The other team members behind Pietro didn’t seem nearly as upset or angry as their co-captain. They actually seemed far more interested in what was going on to really pay attention to what Pietro was saying.

“You and Leorio have been fighting since he started participating in math team. I think it’s silly, Leorio is a smart person and has done more for this team than I ever could.” Kurapika admitted and Leorio looked down at him for a second in surprise. Kurapika didn’t look up to meet his gaze but remained focused on Pietro, who scoffed.

“Leorio stopped being a nerd years ago, how could some stupid sophomore just suddenly make him one again?” Pietro asked and Leorio felt his blood begin to boil. His middle school years were another thing he and Pietro had agreed to drop. They worked hard on developing who Leorio was their freshmen year and it had worked. Leorio had become the most popular kid in his grade until his senior year when he officially became the most well known guy at school. 

“You can’t just stop someone from being smart. You can impede improvement, but the smarts Leorio had never went away.” Kurapika protested, holding Leorio’s hand tighter as he said it. Leorio knew how true it was because all four years at Yorknew High, Mr. B had insisted he join the math team. Becoming popular had never impeded Leorio’s studies, just made them appear to be background noise. No one at Yorknew knew how smart he was.

“Yeah, well, Leorio’s been so focused on the basketball team and his friends that I doubt he’s smart enough to be on your team.” Pietro shot back and this time Leorio was drawn to full attention. That was enough.

“Mr. B has been asking me to join the math team since he first met me freshmen year.” Leorio informed Pietro and his friend turned his attention back to Leorio, eyebrows creased in confusion. 

“What are you talking about? You always told us that Mr. B’s interest with you was because your grades were awful.” Pietro pointed out and Leorio felt Kurapika’s head shift. Turning he found his boyfriend looking up into his eyes, confusion knit in his brow as well.

“Leorio, being smart isn’t something that doesn’t make you popular. Why would you hide it?” Kurapika asked, tilting his head slightly as he said this. Leorio sighed, trying to hide the fact that he could easily point out that Kurapika was wrong. The only reason the school didn’t recognize Kurapika as popular was because he was on the math team. There had been more than one instance that Leorio had heard students whisper about how awesome Kurapika was, but that it was a shame he was a nerd.

“No, I know that now. But as freshmen, we were stupid. I can be popular and smart, but if no one likes that, then I’ll just have to be me.” Leorio said, turning to look back at Pietro after addressing what Kurapika had said. Pietro scoffed again, rolling his eyes at Leorio.

“C’mon, Leorio, just admit that you’re wrong and come back to us. We’ll forgive you and you can resume life as it was before.” Pietro said and Leorio’s eyes narrowed. His friend was still playing like he was the one who had done nothing wrong. Sure, Leorio felt guilty for punching him, but part of him still wanted to sock him.

“No. I have a match to do.” Leorio stated matter-of-factly before turning away and heading toward the table, Kurapika in tow, Melody following shortly after. Leorio ignored Pietro’s stuttered calls of protests, but Leorio knew it was pointless to listen.

“Leorio, do you think you’ll still be able to do the match?” Kurapika asked, having to jog lightly to keep up with Leorio’s long strides. Leorio huffed and stuck his nose further into the air, offended that Kurapika even had to ask.

“Of course I will! Did you notice, he brought almost the entire school. They’re here to watch me fail. I have to prove that I won’t.” Leorio responded, reaching his spot at the end of the table. The entire team was already seated and chatting amongst themselves lightly, occasionally glancing back at their side of the bleachers in awe. They had never seen so many people attend their matches before. 

Kurapika didn’t respond, but Leorio saw the expression on his face and felt even more motivated to continue just because of the look on Kurapika’s face. Leorio turned back to the table and pulled out both chairs so they could sit down. 

Leorio looked toward the judges table with determination and was shock when Kurapika gave him a small kiss on the cheek. Turning to look toward his boyfriend with shock, he caught the red on Kurapika’s cheeks before he couldn’t see his face.

“Prove them wrong and there might be more where that came from.” Kurapika muttered, clearly trying to hide his embarrassment from saying those words. Whatever the case, Leorio was even more motivated, which was hard to believe since he had already been so motivated to begin with. 

“Please be seated. The competition is about to begin.” This time the voice was male. Leorio looked up to the judges table for real this time and took in the array of new faces sitting behind the table. Each had a water bottle and pieces of paper that a few were messing with. The one seated before the microphone was male this time, appearing to be no more than thirty and with a lively head of bright red hair. 

The other judges were older looking faculty members of the school they were participating at and a few Leorio recognized from Yorknew. He hadn’t been paying too much attention at the last match, but that had probably been how it was there as well. However, the judge in the middle was probably not from either school, to balance any possible bias. 

The bleachers settled slowly as students and parents sat down and prepared for the competition to begin. Leorio felt kind of bad for the Yorknew High students who had decided to watch. Participating was enthralling, but watching just sounded boring. 

“We will now begin the second districts meet for the Hunter City School District Math Tournament.” The man said, his voice clearly being contained a little bit to sound formal. Leorio kind of wondered if he was a math teacher and if he was one of those really fun ones everyone wanted to have. 

“As the rules state, the question will be shown on the screen behind me. The team’s do not start work until I tell them to start and then they will begin. The first team to hit the buzzer will have the opportunity to give the answer. If correct, they receive points. Points will go up based on the skill level of the question. Naturally, skill level will increase with every question. The team with the most answers correct advances to the final competition in November.” Leorio remembered those same words from the last competition, swearing they were exactly the same. The guy must have been reading off of a paper place before him.

“Is everything understood?” At this he looked up, a grin on his face. He was enjoying this more than any of the other teachers on the stand with him. It made Leorio feel more energized, something that anyone could consider impossible. It was almost as if he had taken four shots of very hard coffee. Pietro’s motivation, the smile from Kurapika, promises of some kisses, and this guy’s enthusiasm was what fueled him. 

“Alright, then. Let’s get started. First question, please.” The man said, addressing the student at the back of the room with the projector equipment. The first question was flashed onto the screen and the teams were set to solve. Similarly to the last competition, it went back and forth rather evenly, earning each team fairly equal points. Their team answered more questions than in the previous match, and Leorio could see improvements in their speed.

He solved each equation himself at what felt like record speeds, but allowed the people near the front of the table to race up and hit the buzzer. Only one or two team members answered questions incorrectly or too slowly. 

Anticipation ate Leorio up as he started getting jumpy, wanting desperately to prove himself to Pietro now. But he knew it was only fair to let the other team members answer questions as well. They were all a part of this and Leorio wasn’t going to take the spotlight from them. 

The questions raised to five points and Melody raced up to answer her first question, getting it correct immediately. Leorio reached across Kurapika to high five his friend, who grinned at him as if this was the best thing that had happened to her in her entire life. 

The questions continued to get harder, but remained in the zone above Melody and Kurapika for most of the first half before the judge in the middle called for a break and brought out the snack bearers. 

“This is going great, at this rate we’ll definitely win!” Kurapika exclaimed, grabbing a water bottle and snack from the people passing them out. Thanking him he popped the lid off the bottle with a twist and took a long drink. Leorio watched him go through this simple task with a look of pure awe, as if it was amazing he could do this. 

“What?” Kurapika asked, snapping Leorio back to attention with a confused look on his face. Turning slightly red, Leorio shook his head and took the lid off of his own bottle.

“Nothing. I’m just really excited about winning as well.” Leorio shot out after he had finished taking a small drink. He refrained from getting sappy on Kurapika, but had to admit it in his head. Even if they lost or Pietro and all of Yorknew thought he was stupid, he was still very happy Kurapika had finally opened up to him. It was the greatest feeling in the world. 

“Alright, everyone, please be seated. We’re going to start the second half now.” The voice came back on the microphone and everyone shuffled back to their seats. Leorio didn’t watch, but the Yorknew bleachers had been busy with activity, people talking and buzzing and gossiping, starting rumors about him already. Most of them had watched him scribble on his paper and not get up, assuming he hadn’t actually answered and was just pretending. 

And then the second half began.

The questions had ended at ten points in the first half and started there in the second half. Leorio was still waiting for his questions to come up, but many of the questions answered were Kurapika and Melody, who stood to answer and got most of them correct. Leorio felt so proud of Kurapika, that he was able to answer them without a problem.

Finally, one of his questions came up.

Leorio’s pencil hit the paper the instant the question came up on the screen. He didn’t even register that it was one of his questions until he was halfway through answering, so by the time he had finished, he was racing to the buzzers with his paper in hand.

“Your answer?” The judge asked after Leorio’s hand had landed on the buzzer. The other team’s answerer hadn’t even pushed out their chair. 

Leorio gave the answer to the judges, who looked over their answer sheets to decide if he had answered it correctly. Leorio’s fingers fidgeted their hold on his paper as he awaited the revelation about his answer. It was far more stressful than he had anticipated it would be.

“That is correct. Yorknew receives fifteen points.” The judge responded and Leorio refrained from fist pumping and doing a loud cheer. Instead he headed back to his spot where he sat down as calmly as he could manage. He felt another surge of energy when Kurapika reached under the table and squeezed his hand. 

The rest of the competition went similarly. Most of the questions were a higher difficulty and most of the questions were answered by Leorio and Kurapika, a few by Melody and less by other team members. 

When the competition finally ended, there wasn’t much of a flourish but it was over and the entire team sighed with relief. Leorio grinned and high fived all his team members, having almost entirely forgotten about Pietro and Yorknew’s cheering section. Most of it was silent, but there was a gentle buzz about them as they all muttered surprise at Leorio’s answers.

There was a small break as the judges tallied total final scores and compared notes. It didn’t take them very long as they made sure they had the same scores.

“The winner is Yorknew High.” With that the team went crazy and there was some polite clapping from the parents in their section. Some of the students clapped along as well, each of them more in awe than the last. Kurapika headed to the front of the room to shake hands with the other captain and receive the ribbon for getting first. They only had one more competition and it was against Hunter City School District’s reigning champions: Meteor City.

The team continued to cheer as the people in the bleachers and on the other team began filtering out. They meandered their way back to the bus, slowly making it out. Leorio hung back with Kurapika and Melody, scooping his boyfriend into his arms and doing a full spin. 

“Can I get that something more now?” Leorio asked, leaning his face in toward Kurapika, grinning from ear to ear as their noses bumped. Kurapika laughed and pushed back gently on Leorio’s chest.

“Go make up with Pietro first.” Kurapika instructed. Leorio dropped him gently to the ground with a groan, annoyed that Kurapika would insist on his best friend first. It was getting tiring, he just wanted some attention from his new boyfriend. 

Turning toward the bleachers he watched as a few basketball team members assisted in getting Pietro down to the ground. Why had he gone up so high if he was going to have trouble getting down? Leorio watched as they approached, aware of Kurapika and Melody behind him. They had been involved in this with him, so it was only fair they watch what happens.

Pietro’s feet finally hit the gym floor and he shrugged off the guys on either side of him, who dropped back behind him to join the other team members. Pietro walked forward, head down, toward Leorio and his friends. He didn’t look up when he stopped, but his face remained on the ground.

“Leorio, you are such a nerd.” Pietro muttered, but the tone of his voice was light and Leorio sensed a fond smile was gracing his face. Pietro’s smiles were some of the best and Leorio really wished he was looking up.

“Yeah, I guess there was no killing it freshmen year, huh?” Leorio asked and he saw Pietro shake slightly, a small laugh coming a couple of seconds later. There was a moment where Pietro remained looking at the ground, only breathing, not saying a word or moving a muscle.

“I just…I just wanted you to stay around the whole time. I didn’t think I would ever lose my best friend.” Pietro muttered, his voice barely audible. Leorio could tell he was holding back tears and was shocked, but also felt himself watering up. They did this to each other sometimes.

“I’m never going to leave. I can have more friends than you guys. In fact, I think you and the math team would get along great.” Leorio responded, turning his head slightly away, pretending to not tear up at the sound of Pietro’s voice. There was a small sniffle and that did it for both of them.

In a single instant they were both spilling tears as if they were fountains that had just been turned on.

“I’m sorry, Leorio! I was wrong about you and the math team and your…your boyfriend!” Pietro exclaimed, launching himself at Leorio, who accepted him in a rather manly embrace, patting each others’ backs while they hugged.

“I’m sorry for punching you, Pietro! I was overreacting and I shouldn’t have!” Leorio practically yelled back. Neither noticed the very amused expressions on the faces of the people standing around them. Melody was wiping a small tear from the corner of her eye as Kurapika nearly doubled over from laughter. He felt a little bad finding it funny, but their emotional moment was almost like something straight from an anime. Like two girls making up after some big falling out.

After a while of this they backed away and wiped the tears from their eyes as if nothing happened, not looking back at each other until they had dried their eyes completely. 

“Now that that’s over.” Kurapika smiled and stepped up to Leorio, grabbing him by the arm to get his attention. Naturally this was very easy, as Leorio knew what was coming. He grinned down at his boyfriend, glad that Kurapika was like this, despite being very awkward about it. 

“I’m glad you two have made up.” Kurapika wasn’t able to finish he spiel as Leorio leaned forward and placed a kiss on his lips, something he had been looking forward to doing since they had first made it official. 

Melody watched with joy, glad that Leorio had made up with Pietro and happy to see Leorio complete again. Pietro turned away from the kiss, embarrassed to watch his best friend kiss a guy. He had said it a million times before, he understood Leorio was bi, but it still struck him as odd that Leorio could like guys at the same time as girls. The rest of the basketball team hooted and hollered and Leorio gave them some mocking punches as they all left the gym.

Now all they had left to face was Meteor City in the final match of districts. They had one month to prepare and Leorio felt confident they wouldn’t fail.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next: Leorio messes up again


	11. Really Bad Screw Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Kurapika doesn't show up at practices, Leorio stops by his house to find out why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small warning: slight abuse. Nothing serious, though, so I don't know if I'll tag it.

The air was getting colder and the students at Yorknew High began bundling up warmer. There was snow in that evenings forecast, but if the forecast was anything like it usually was, then there wasn’t going to be any snow. 

After school, Leorio found himself balancing math team and basketball practice rather evenly. After the final straw with Pietro, everything had settled back to the way it was before. Leorio admitted to ignoring Pietro a little bit when he had first joined the math team, but now that everything was sorted out he promised to always be there. What he didn’t add on was ‘until the end’ because he knew how much Pietro’s time left worried his friend.

The final match of the math tournament was drawing near and was approximately a week away. Leorio was beginning to get pumped, enough that it was noticeable during basketball practice and everyone was amused by the overly enthusiastic Leorio.

“Alright, let’s run that one more time!” Leorio shouted, a chipper tone to his voice rather than the usual authoritative one he used when working with the team. It wasn’t like he was mean when he talked to them, but this was amusing and the entire team lined up to repeat the drill, holding in laughter behind their hands. 

Leorio blew the whistle and everyone was off, including him, to complete the drill. Pietro watched from the sidelines, his place on the bleachers having become permanent his sophomore year. It bothered him, Leorio knew that, but Pietro tried his very hardest not to let it show. He didn’t want to be pitied. The entire team tried their best to help when they could, but it was hard when Pietro was hyper aware of what pity looked like.

The team came to a panting halt at the end of the drill and Leorio stood straight, his height overtaking most of his team members. He was one of their best players because of that height. Despite his glasses and his rather thin looking build, Leorio was far more intimidating than most of the players on the team. Sure, there were others who nearly rivaled his height, but none of them could sneer like Leorio.

Although, Pietro did do a good job of making angry faces to unsettle the other team from the bench.

“Good. That was better. How about we take a small break and go again in a couple of minutes?” Leorio suggested and the team grinned, giving him an approving thumbs up before meandering to where Pietro sat near the water cooler they had brought out with them. The closer it got to the start of the season, the less time they spent on breaks. So Leorio had brought his families water cooler to practices so they didn’t have to run to different ends of the gym just to get more water.

“Lookin’ good out there, captain.” Pietro complimented, high fiving Leorio when he came close enough. Their fingers locked and they did a sort of shake before Leorio sat down and took a swig from his water bottle. Leaning back he sighed, his left leg jumping up and down despite his exhaustion.

“You that excited for the final math meet?” Pietro asked, indicating Leorio’s leg when the taller of the two looked up in confusion. Leorio laughed at Pietro then and nodded, leaning his head backward again to stare at the ceiling. 

“You don’t know the half of it. This is it, Pietro! This is how far the team made it last year riding on Pika’s shoulders. Just imagine how far we’ll make it with how much the team has improved.” Leorio responded, face splitting grin crossing his features as he said it. The pure joy in his face wasn’t something Pietro had seen in a while, and he was glad the look was back. Leorio had been a little out of sorts since they had decided to keep his smarts a secret. 

Now that he was the smartest kid in school? It was as if a huge weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. Leorio was king of Yorknew High and his little boyfriend was his queen. It was a sight to behold, nothing Yorknew had ever seen. It was beautiful.

“You should take some credit, Leorio. You were the one who changed ‘em.” Pietro said, shoving at Leorio’s shoulder playfully. Leorio glanced away and smiled sheepishly. Pietro and him didn’t often do compliments, so it was always silly to take them.

“Yeah? Thanks, buddy.” Leorio muttered, still not looking at Pietro. When he finally turned to face the gym he took a final drink from his water bottle. Standing up, he prepared to call the team back to practice when one of the doors at the top of the gym opened up and Mr. B stepped in.

“Mr. B. How can I help you?” Leorio asked, brow creased as the older gentleman entered the room, stopping warily at the top of the stairs. He seemed a tad bit hesitant, but as a teacher, this didn’t come off as strongly as if it were Melody standing there. 

“Have you seen Kurapika?” Mr. B asked, and Leorio’s brow knit tighter. Pika? Pika said he would be really busy for a couple of days, so Leorio had assumed that meant preparing for the math tournament. Yet, here was Mr. B, asking about the captain’s whereabouts. 

“Not since lunch. Why, did he not show up to the meeting?” Leorio asked, feeling just a bit awkward that they were having this conversation from such a large distance and in front of the entire basketball team. Well, the seniors, anyway. They had basically grown used to Leorio and Kurapika being an item in the month it had been going on and the occasional mention of Pika wasn’t abnormal. But Mr. B never came into the gym and Kurapika having gone missing added to the confusion.

“No, and he didn’t show up yesterday, either. I was hoping you knew why.” Mr. B responded, his voice sounding just a bit disappointed that he hadn’t found the answer. Leorio hummed in thought at this and then looked back up to Mr. B.

“I can stop by his house after practice and check, if you’d like.” Leorio had promised Pika he would never go over to his house, but Leorio figured it wouldn’t hurt if he was just a worried team member. Pika’s parents couldn’t get anything suspicious from that, right? 

“That would be great, Leorio. Thank you.” Mr. B said and the two waved to each other before the math team teacher left. Leorio tapped a thoughtful finger on his chin, trying to figure out if Kurapika had told him something and he had missed it. Maybe his being busy was from something else and he had just forgotten to mention what? Leorio was so caught up in thought he almost didn’t notice the team beginning to stir in front of him.

“Leorio, we can stop practice now if you want.” One of the guys said, dropping into Leorio’s field of vision quite suddenly. This nearly made Leorio jump but he brushed it off with a wave of his hand.

“No, we don’t need to do that.” Leorio muttered, turning back around to face the gym and remind himself where they had left off. What drill was next? Should they play a scrimmage? Several other questions raced through Leorio’s head when a hand clamped down on his shoulder, actually making him jump this time.

“Leorio, we’ve had a lot of practice today. Kurapika means a lot to you, why don’t you go see what’s up?” Leorio turned to look down at Pietro beside him, his best friend of so long looking aged and weary. It had probably taken enough of his energy just to walk over to him.

“Are you guys sure?” Leorio asked, looking from Pietro to the rest of the team as he asked this. Everyone nodded in response and Leorio felt an overwhelming joy in being around these guys. Grinning from ear to ear he looked at each of them and nodded.

“Thanks guys. Hey, I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?” Leorio said, grabbing his water bottle and bag and racing out of the room as everyone nodded in response. Racing down the hallways and out the front door, Leorio worried over what Kurapika might be up to or where he could have disappeared to. This wasn’t like him, missing practice without warning. Honestly, it wasn’t like him to miss practice at all. 

Once Leorio reached his car he flung his bag into the back seat and pulled out as quickly as he could manage. He had already been to Kurapika’s house a couple of times, so it wasn’t terribly hard to remember where he was headed.

After lots of twisting and turning and driving around, Leorio finally pulled up in front of the run down looking house. The place didn’t look nearly as messy as it had the last time he had been here. The grass was cut, the rose bush at the front was trimmed, and there was a long piece of tape along the crack on the front window.

Warily, Leorio stepped out of his car and looked around. There was no one out and about, so he was going to be dealing with this alone. Luckily, there was someone home, indicated by the car in the driveway. So he would be talking with someone.

Taking a deep breath and putting on a brave face, Leorio stepped across the path toward the front door and landed a few firm knocks on the neatly painted wood. Everything looked much neater from up close. There were only a few moments of silence before the door popped open and a small woman with dark brown hair appeared before Leorio.

“Can I help you?” She asked, having to look up like Kurapika to see into Leorio’s face. Other than her height, though, she looked nothing like Kurapika. Which was understandable, since he knew the situation.

“Um, yeah, I’m one of Kurapika’s team mates from the math team. He hasn’t shown up to practice the last couple of meetings and we were wondering what was going on. Is he home?” Leorio asked and the woman’s face lit up and a smile cracked across her worn looking features.

“Ah, come in. Kurapika hasn’t gotten home yet, we figured he was still at that math meeting.” The woman said, gesturing for Leorio to step inside. It was only polite, so he did so, taking in the surprisingly nice appearance of the inside of his house. Leorio immediately scolded himself for judging a book by its cover. Kurapika’s house wasn’t all that bad.

“Oh? That’s too bad. We’re really worried.” Leorio said, trying to choose his words carefully. He didn’t want to make it sound too much like he was the only one worried. He knew the entire team was worried, but there was a part of Leorio that decided he was more worried than they were. 

“It’s odd, we’ve never met any of Kurapika’s friends besides that Melody girl. What’s your name?” The woman asked, folding her arms over his chest to talk calmly with Leorio in the entranceway. It wasn’t weird, either. Leorio had never thought that meeting Kurapika’s parents, despite them not being biological, would be this normal. Meeting his own family had been rather easy on Kurapika’s part considering he had already run into them. But Kurapika had made it sound like his parents were judging and suspicious.

“I’m Leorio. I joined the team just this year.” Leorio offered, wondering how long this conversation would go. Maybe she was being nice and letting him stay until Kurapika got home. Hopefully that was the case, then Leorio could ask him what was going on without having to wait until later. He really wanted to know what was going on.

“I’m Marta. My husband, Allin, is in the other room. He’ll be out in a second, his curiosity always gets the better of him.” As if right on cue, a door at the other end of the hallway facing the entrance opened and out stepped a tall, broad shouldered man. His hair was graying and his face was scruffy, but he looked respectably messy. Which was not a combination Leorio had seen before. 

“Ah, Marta, who is this?” The man asked, offering a hand for Leorio to shake as he got closer. Politely Leorio took it and found the rough, calloused hands were made for a firm hand shake. This was a respectable gentleman and Leorio wondered how he had ever thought Kurapika’s parents could be weird. 

“This is Leorio. He’s on the math team with Kurapika. Says Kurapika hasn’t been showing up to practice the last couple of days and was just here to check on him.” Marta explained and Allin nodded in response after he and Leorio had dropped hands.

“Well, it seems you care a lot about him. Normally, that Melody girl would be here to check up on him.” Allin pointed out and Leorio wondered why they kept addressing Melody like that. Maybe they thought he didn’t know her? It was a reasonable guess, though they must have known she was on the math team as well. 

“The whole team cares. I was just at a different team meeting and we got done earlier, so I decided I’d stop by.” Leorio explained and the two of them nodded in understanding. They were really nice people, it seemed, and Leorio couldn’t understand why Kurapika had refused to let Leorio over.

“How nice of you.” Marta commented and Allin nodded in agreement. They both appeared as if they had aged quicker than was normal for people their age, but they had smile lines and forehead wrinkles from years of smiling and worrying, so they must be normal.

“Where do you live, Leorio?” Allin asked, taking Leorio a bit off guard. He supposed it didn’t hurt to answer a simple question, though it was a tad bit strange it didn’t strike Leorio as a stranger danger question.

“Closer to the school. Kind of on the opposite side of town from you guys.” Leorio said, indicating the direction with a general wave of his hand through their front window. They both nodded in understanding and Allin let out a low whistle.

“And you came all the way out here to check on our son?” He asked, and Leorio shrugged. If they knew the real reason he was worried then he knew they would probably freak out. They may have seemed normal, but they hadn’t had a conversation about relationships and Leorio knew anyone could be a homophobe under the surface without bringing it up every second. 

“I have a car, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to pop by. Plus, I have a friend who lives nearby, I figured I could stop by and say hi to them as well.” Leorio lied about the second part, wondering if they were trying to interrogate him. They kept asking questions that made it sound like he cared about Kurapika more than Melody did. Which was almost true, but Melody had known him longer. 

“That’s really nice of you. Well, like we said, he’s not here right now and I have no idea when he’ll get back. I don’t want to worry your family, so you should probably head home.” Marta piped up, and Leorio looked out the window at the sun as it headed toward the horizon. He didn’t want to leave without knowing what was up with Kurapika, but he didn’t want to make his family suspicious.

“It’s fine, really, I can text my mom and tell her where I am.” Leorio offered, pulling out his phone to show them he could. Marta and Allin both raised their eyebrows, appearing surprised at his phone. It wasn’t one of the newest models, but it was a smart phone and he knew they were likely surprised to see a teenager with one when he knew both Melody and Kurapika still had flip phones on minutes.

“You sure? It’s getting late and mother’s tend to worry more than you think.” Marta said, tilting her head a bit to look at Leorio curiously. They seemed to be pushing getting him out of the house. Whatever the reason was, he didn’t want them to have to tell him to get out rudely. Leorio didn’t want to make them resort to that, since they seemed to want him out now.

“Uh, you know what, you’re right. I should go. Dinner’s probably ready and getting cold.” Leorio said and smiles appeared on both of their faces again. Leorio hadn’t even realized they had been frowning, brows creased. It wasn’t odd, just a little weird. “Maybe I’ll see you again?” Leorio said as he found his way out the door, both Marta and Allin waving and agreeing that it would be nice to see him again.

 

It was dark out when Kurapika got home. He had ignored every text Leorio had shot his way, too busy to take the time to respond. They had been dating for a month, it was far longer than Kurapika had anticipated, but he was enjoying it. They had gotten out of the honeymoon phase rather quickly, which was nice, since Kurapika was never a really affectionate person in the first place. 

However, the last couple of days he had been working on a really big project that would look good on college applications, so he had been pouring his heart into it. Maybe he should have mentioned it to Melody or Mr. Bernard. That might have been a good idea, but every time the thought came up, he was drawn to something in the project that needed to be worked on and he just completely lost focus. 

So yeah, everyone else wasn’t aware of what he was doing and he felt a little guilty. Perhaps he would respond to Leorio’s texts after he ate something and showered.

Stepping into the house, he was surprised to find the living room lights still on. Allin was asleep on the couch, but Marta was awake and watching the TV as if it was actually interesting. Which it probably was, Say Yes to the Dress was on. 

“Kurapika, you’re back! That project sure is taking a lot out of you.” Marta said casually, her voice loud enough to wake her sleeping husband on the couch beside her. He stirred with a snort and looked up with see Kurapika, a small smile gracing his scruffy face. Kurapika had always noticed the small things that indicated they were worried about him, but he still didn’t really feel connected to them like a son would be.

“Yeah, it’s a lot bigger than I thought.” He muttered, stepping into the house, wondering why they were both still up. They had done a lot of things that made them look like worried parents, but they both knew he was going to be home after they went to bed, so why had they stayed up?

“A friend of yours stopped by. He was really concerned.” Allin muttered, sleep still evident on his voice. Wait, he? Kurapika felt his blood run but attempted to hide the shock behind his face, which was easy, since he had done it many times before. 

“Really? Who was it?” Kurapika asked, knowing well who it was. Leorio was stupid, having stopped by his house without warning. Kurapika really wanted to know what he had said, what Marta and Allin had asked him. Did they suspect Leorio was his boyfriend? 

“This kid named Leorio. Nice kid, really tall, apparently he lives on the opposite side of town from us, and yet came all the way out here to check on you.” Allin responded, looking as if he was thinking hard about this when he and Marta had probably planned this whole conversation out beforehand.

“Really? I guess that’s nice of him.” Kurapika muttered, meandering slowly toward his bedroom. He wanted so desperately for this conversation to end so he could shower and go to bed. Scolding Leorio was also a top priority, but his thoughts on that could wait. He just wanted out of there.

“Very nice of him. He said he cared a lot about you.” Marta commented and Kurapika hoped desperately that they were making that up and Leorio really hadn’t said that. Leorio wasn’t stupid, was he? Kurapika had told him that Marta and Allin were homophobic and any hints at their relationship could easily make them suspicious.

“I’m sure the entire team cares a lot about me.” Kurapika commented, hoping that Leorio had actually brought that up. It was a safe card, naturally the entire team cared about him, he was their captain. He knew they were all worried. Leorio wouldn’t have known Kurapika was gone unless Melody or Mr. B had said something or he had gone to practice that day. Which wasn’t likely, Leorio spent most of his time with the basketball team and he had just gone to a math team meeting a couple of days ago. 

“You know what, he said that too.” Allin commented, standing from where had had been sitting. The man was far larger than Kurapika. He wasn’t taller than Leorio, but he certainly was built more than Leorio was and it was what made him far more intimidating than the endearing senior. 

“Kurapika, we’re going to ask you a few questions. You promised, when we took you in, that you would be honest with us.” Marta joined her husband facing Kurapika, not allowing him toward his bedroom downstairs. There was a hidden threat in her words: if he lied, he was out. 

“Is that Leorio your boyfriend?” Allin asked and Kurapika froze in his place. They knew. They had deduced it all from what Leorio said. Or they were wildly guessing and just looking for reassurance from Kurapika. In this situation, both a lie and the truth could get him kicked out.

Lying at least gave him a fifty percent chance of staying.

“Kurapika, are you gay?” Apparently it had taken too long for him to answer the first question, so Marta impatiently posed the next question. She spat the word in his face as if it were too vulgar to even say aloud. Anger flared in Kurapika’s gut but he held it back. It was a good thing Marta and Allin couldn’t see his eyes behind his contacts.

“No.” He muttered, realizing too late that he had avoided looking at them, that his voice was weak and hesitant, and that he took a step back when he said it. Marta’s slap stung only after it came and Kurapika gripped his cheek, hissing at the pain.

“You said you wouldn’t lie to us!” She screamed, her volume piercing Kurapika’s ears painfully. This wasn’t happening. Plenty of times he had been kicked out or given up for being quiet or reserved or too stubborn. Never before had he actually been given up for being gay. Kurapika wasn’t sure he could live with that.

“I was hoping there was a chance I could stay if I did.” Kurapika whined, whimpering as Marta slapped him again, his back hitting the wall behind him as he tried to get away. He was so tired of moving from place to place. Why couldn’t he just stay in one spot for long enough to age out of the system?

“All we wanted was a normal son.” Marta hissed as Kurapika sank to the floor to get away from her hands. Tears began to stream down his face as Marta stormed from the room. Allin remained above him for a second before turning.

“You have a week.” Was all Allin said before he was gone, leaving Kurapika in a ball on the floor, sobs wracking his body violently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next: the final resolve!


	12. Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kurapika doesn't show up for the bus to the final meet, so Leorio, Mr. B, and Melody go find out what's up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it, guys, the very end!

“Has anyone seen Kurapika?” Mr. B called over the chaotic group of students milling about in front of the bus. They had just done a count and found that, not only were they short one team member, it was their captain. Leorio pushed his way toward Mr. B amid the muttered responses, all of which were various forms of ‘no’.

“He hasn’t shown up yet? He’s been here all week, what could possibly cause him to miss the match?” Leorio asked Mr. B, confusion knit in his brow. The entire week had been pretty normal. Other than Kurapika’s requests for no kisses and how he flinched every time Leorio hugged him, he had been his usual self during practice. 

“I have no idea. He never mentioned anything to me. After the whole project ordeal, I would have thought he would know to tell us.” Mr. B explained, tapping his chin in thought. Kurapika had told Leorio what had happened later that night and insisted that, if anything like this happen again, he not come over to check on him. 

“He told me not to go over there again, but this is what he’s been waiting for. Beating Meteor City and going to state is his dream.” Leorio muttered, looking toward the ground in thought. He didn’t know why Kurapika banned him from his house, his parents were fine. They were nice and friendly, why would Kurapika insist he stay away?

“Kurapika’s been a bit distant all day.” Came the small voice from below Leorio. Melody had come up to them while they were talking and was now standing in a small triangle with them. Everyone else milled about but the chatter was starting to die down. Normally they would be on the bus by now, but they were still waiting and Kurapika still hadn’t shown up.

“You two know where he lives, right? We need to go talk to him and make sure he’s alright.” Mr. B finally said, after a long pause. Melody looked up determination in her eyes. Kurapika was her best friend. If he had been simply been putting on a show for the past few days, then she wanted to know. Leorio hesitated a little bit, but nodded.

“Melody and I can go talk to him.” Leorio concluded. “Meteor City High isn’t very far from where he lives, so it won’ take us too long to get there with my car.” Leorio added on, pulling his keys from his pocket and swinging them around dramatically, trying not to hit someone so he could look cool while he did it.

“I’m coming with.” Mr. B decided, taking a rather dramatic stance. Before Leorio could protest he added on: “I’m his teacher, I should know what’s going on. Even if it’s nothing like last time, I want to be sure he’s fine.” Leorio groaned, but he knew Mr. B wasn’t a man to be stopped. His stubbornness was far less than Kurapika’s, but it was still strong when he wanted it to be. Plus, they had no time to waste if they wanted to make it to the match on time. 

Turning toward the rest of the team, Leorio looked them over. They were starting to quiet down and when a few noticed that Leorio was facing them, they nudged their friends to get their attention. It was silent within seconds.

“Mr. B, Melody, and I are going to get Kurapika. I want you guys to stall the start of the match for as long as possible if we’re not back in time.” Leorio explained and a few faces nodded, some turning to their friends to whisper, brows knit with confusion. “But don’t get into any trouble.” Leorio added on and there were a few wary giggles sprinkled throughout the crowd.

Mr. B told the bus driver what was going on in a brief explanation then followed Leorio and Melody toward Leorio’s car. It was parked relatively close to the bus, so they were in and then quickly pulling out of the parking lot. The three of them drove in almost complete silence the whole way to Kurapika’s house. It was quite a distance away, but they were all thinking of different reasons Kurapika might have missed out on the meet.

Leorio recalled earlier when he had seen his boyfriend at lunch. There was nothing terribly off about him. Sure, he had been a bit awkward over Leorio’s kisses and flinched whenever he was hugged, but otherwise he was as chipper and generally excited as ever. Though, now that Leorio was thinking about it, he had gone really silent whenever he had brought up the fact that they were finally going up against Meteor City. 

After a few minutes, Leorio finally pulled to a stop before Kurapika’s house, behind some nice car Leorio hadn’t seen before. 

“He always does this.” Melody growled from the back seat, pushing against Mr. B’s chair to encourage him to get out faster. Mr. B did as she insisted and Leorio followed suit.

“Does what?” Leorio asked, following Melody toward the front of the house where a gentleman stood, wearing what appeared to be a kind of business casual. He was on the phone but got off as they approached.

“Who might you all be?” The man asked, not sound malicious or angry at all. His curiosity was a gentle one, not something Leorio often heard from someone who appeared to have come straight from some kind of business world.

“We’re friends of Kurapika’s. We came to get him so we could go to the math team meet. He’s late.” Melody insisted and the man looked down, recognition taking over his features, a smile gracing his face.

“Melody, long time no see. Math team meet, huh? He never said anything about that. I wouldn’t want to keep him from something important.” The man exclaimed, mouth turning to a frown as he headed inside, gesturing for everyone to follow. Leorio followed Melody, wary of what was happening. The guy knew her? How did he knew her? Why was he talking as if he was Kurapika’s dad? 

“Melody, what’s going on?” Leorio whispered as they headed into the house, the appearance of the inside nicer than when Leorio had been there last. The family must have tidied knowing they were having such a nice guest over. 

“This is Kurapika’s social worker, Tom. Kurapika’s moving houses and forgot to tell me. Again.” Melody grumbled, her tone clearly annoyed with her friend. Leorio felt his blood go cold. Social worker? Moving houses? What?!

As they walked into the houses, the social worker leading the way, Kurapika came up the stairs with a big box and a bag slung over one shoulder. When he saw his friends and Mr. B he froze, taking a step back as if he didn’t want to go near them.

“Kurapika! Your friends told me you have a math team match. If I had known, I wouldn’t have insisted we do this right now. I’m sure your new family doesn’t mind waiting.” Tom said, slipping his phone into his pocket and gesturing toward the three that had followed him in.

For a moment, Kurapika just stood there, looking at them as if he didn’t know who they were. Leorio wasn’t sure if he knew who this was. The small, blonde teen before him wasn’t the same Kurapika he had seen before. Other than his hair pulled back in a small ponytail, he looked the same, but he gave off a different air about him. 

“I didn’t want to go.” Kurapika muttered in response, voice and face taking on a determined, angry look. Leorio felt betrayed, left behind, broken. What had happened? Were these the same things Kurapika felt? 

“You do this every time, Kurapika! I’m tired of you using this day as an excuse to wallow in self pity. You have so much ahead of you and so much for you, why do you dwell on the past so much?” Melody said, grabbing the box from Kurapika’s arms and dropping it onto the couch before turning back to him. 

“Because the past makes me, Melody. Without it, I wouldn’t be here.” Kurapika muttered angrily in response. Leorio watched this exchange from outside his body. At one point, he turned to see a pained expression on Mr. B’s face. Had he known? Was he aware of what Kurapika was going through? Sometimes Leorio forgot that Kurapika’s family had been murdered, that he had nothing left. 

However, he didn’t have nothing.

There was the math team, and Melody, and Mr. B, and now there was Leorio. Why couldn’t Kurapika see this? Why couldn’t he think about how awesome and amazing his present and future were and looked? After everything he had been through, why did he want to think about the past?

“The past does not make you, Kurapika Kurta! You make you! You’ve decided to make yourself pitiful and depressed when you could be happy and accomplished! We’re all here for you! The math team is too, they’re just stalling so we can get you over there.” Melody explained, throwing her hands around to gesture at everything she talked about. Kurapika looked up, eyes shying away when he noticed Mr. B, but locking with Leorio’s when he saw him. “Come with us and get out of the past for a change.” Melody said, noticing Kurapika wasn’t looking at her.

There was a pause. Kurapika didn’t say anything and didn’t move his gaze. He locked eyes with Leorio as if they were the only thing he really, truly had left for himself. As if Leorio was the only one in the world.

“I can’t.” Kurapika finally muttered, eyes dropping from Leorio’s gaze toward the floor where they rested. Melody groaned loudly, ready to beat Kurapika up for this. Before she could get a word out, Leorio stepped forward and pressed a hand against Melody’s shoulder. She turned to look at him when he did this and then stepped back, knowing what he meant by the gentle tug he gave her shoulder.

Kurapika’s eye remained on the ground as Leorio approached him, eyes concerned and brain completely running on autopilot. What was he supposed to say to someone who was suffering this much? Leorio had never experience anything this bad and now he was having to console someone about it? 

Slowly, he dropped until he was level with Kurapika’s face, his legs shaking a bit as he got used to the position. Kurapika still didn’t look up. There was no reason to force him to, they weren’t there to be rude. Leorio didn’t want to make Kurapika do something he didn’t want to do, but when he said he couldn’t, that was a lie.

“Kurapika, why can’t you?” Leorio asked, voice gentle, a tone he used a lot when he spoke to Desi about why she was crying. Kurapika flinched slightly, aware that the person before him had changed. In three months Leorio had had more impact on his life than Melody ever would. It was scary to think he relied on the senior so much.

“I’m stuck.” Kurapika muttered, eyes remaining on the ground, but shifting slightly from one spot on the floor to another. Stuck with no way out. Stuck and trapped with memories he couldn’t shake. Memories that made him cry and scream and jump at sudden noises. Gunshots, that’s what they all were. Gunshots and the sounds of knives hitting flesh and ripping it apart and men and women screaming and pleading and-Kurapika shuddered as they all came flooding back. Again, they were here again.

“Stuck where?” Leorio asked as Kurapika shook, his body forcing back the sobs he knew were coming. He didn’t want to say it, didn’t want to think it, but here was Leorio, prompting the very thoughts that frightened him. What did he want? Did he want to respond? Did he want someone to know? Was it wise to tell him? 

The thoughts running through his head asked him the same thing multiple different ways. Was it a good idea? Telling Leorio this story would haunt him as well as it did Kurapika. Leorio didn’t deserve to be hurt, didn’t deserve him. These thoughts made him angry, worked up and ready to spring. Kurapika’s fists clenched and he growled.

“I’m there! I’m at that house! I’m stuck with them, with their screaming, I can’t get out! Leorio, get me out!” Kurapika yelled, taking everyone by surprise. As his head shot up, eyes burning red behind his contacts, Leorio flinched, frightened of the sudden anger spilling forth from Kurapika.

“Of course I’ll take you out. You can come with me, you don’t have to be there anymore.” Leorio assured him, reaching out warily to grab Kurapika’s hands, fingers rubbing gently against his clenched fists, trying to work his fingers open again.

“It’s not that easy!” Kurapika yelled, face turning away from Leorio suddenly, hands not moving. Nothing about this was easy. Leorio couldn’t simply take him out of the house. He was stuck there, suffering, watching, feeling it all over and over again. It was torture and there was no stopping it. 

“At least let me try.” Leorio responded, trying to keep his voice calm despite the fear he felt coming from Kurapika. It frightened him seeing his boyfriend this afraid. He didn’t want the sturdy, level headed Kurapika to be like this. It wasn’t fair.

“No! No, why did I ask you to get me out! No one can get me out! Get away, leave me alone!’ Kurapika screamed, attempting to get away from Leorio, who held his hands firmly, but not in a way that would hurt. Kurapika struggled for a minute or so before someone finally spoke up again. This time it was Mr. B.

“What house is it, Kurapika?” He asked. Leorio and Melody knew the answer and the question made them realize Kurapika hadn’t trusted the information with an adult, because Tom’s head turned in curiosity to know the answer.

“My family home! I’m stuck watching my family get murdered and raped! They hurt and killed them! They tried to get me but the cops were faster.” Kurapika responded, voice fading from angry to just desperate. He wanted Leorio to let go, to leave him be. They needed to go to the match and leave him behind. It wasn’t important anymore.

“Kurapika, you never mentioned watching it.” Leorio muttered silently as Kurapika quit struggling and, instead, leaned forward against Leorio’s shoulder, sobbing into it in defeat. His mood had swung full circle and now he was done raging. Sure, it was still making him angry.

“I watched it all.” Kurapika sobbed, body shaking from the effort of withholding the tears. “I watched the Phantom Troupe murder and rape all of them.” He words reminded Leorio of a conversation they had had several months ago. Realization hit him and he felt tears well up in his eyes. 

“That’s why you don’t like talking about sex. I’m sorry I brought it up, Kurapika.” Leorio whispered, soft enough that he hoped no one behind him heard. There were small shivers running through Kurapika’s body as he hiccupped the sobbing back.

“I never wanted anyone to know.” Kurapika muttered, shaking his head on Leorio’s shoulder. “I told Melody because she’s my best friend. I told you because it felt right.” Kurapika sobbed lifting his head off Leorio’s shoulder and looking into his eyes, red clear through his contacts. “I don’t want to be stuck.” He whimpered and Leorio felt his heart break.

“Then come with us. Participate in the match. Be yourself. We can win, it’s what you’ve always wanted.” Leorio responded and Kurapika’s eyes narrowed, eyebrows creasing as anger took over his features.

“No, it’s not what I’ve always wanted. That stupid thing was only to look good on college applications. It has no point when I’m not going to go anywhere in life.” Kurapika hissed, and this time, Mr. B stepped up behind Leorio and leaned down a bit to look into Kurapika’s eyes over his shoulder.

“Your present and your future are better than you think. Just look at us. We came to your house and risked forfeiting the whole match to Meteor City just to see what was up. If we win that match, you can make your life ten times better by using it to get into college. The team could even win state and go onto nationals. Kurapika, don’t give up on yourself. You have so much to offer.” Mr. B explained, trying to work his teacher magic about the whole thing. 

“But I’m stuck in the past. I can’t do anything when I’m stuck there.” Kurapika muttered, looking away from them both and back toward the ground. There was a small moment of silence as they all tried to think of a way to get him to give in. They wanted him to be happy, they needed him to be happy. It was awful watching him suffer.

“You know, you’re not as stuck as you think.” Leorio offered and Kurapika looked up, confusion knitting his brows together this time. Leorio smiled a bit and nodded. “Yeah, you’re always helping out the team and taking charge. You never seem to be thinking about that stuff at those times, so you must not be completely stuck.” Leorio explained and Melody behind him nodded in agreement.

“When we went to the mall that one time for my birthday, you didn’t look like you were stuck in it then.” She offered making Leorio turn a little red just from thinking about it. Kurapika let out a small giggle and then looked at all of them. Was he ever going to be okay? He wasn’t sure, the memories haunted him when he least expected them to. But they were all right. He wasn’t all his past, he was also his present. 

“Okay, so I’m not stuck completely in the past. But I don’t know how to handle the present when the past comes up.” Kurapika muttered, looking back down at the ground. Leorio grabbed his hands in his own, causing Kurapika to look up again and right into his eyes.

“Then you have us here to help you figure that out. Don’t leave use out ever again, okay? And don’t leave out your foster family. I’m sure they want to get to know you too.” Leorio explained and Kurapika smiled sheepishly at this. 

There was a small moment where Kurapika thought about this and then nodded his agreement. Grins and laughter and joyful tears were shared all around. The celebration was interrupted by Tom.

“So, I know we just went through a lot right there, but when does this math team meet start?” He asked. With panic and worry in their step, Leorio, Mr. B, and Melody stuffed themselves in Leorio’s car, allowing Kurapika to sit in the front seat. Tom said he would follow behind with Kurapika’s stuff and, as they all worried themselves about how late they were, Kurapika smiled fondly at the new family he had acquired. He was one lucky guy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fin! Hope you enjoyed! Have a great day!


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